Sooner or Later
by Bookluver1999
Summary: Your typical James/OC. Or maybe not, because Danielle Finnegan has her own stuff to deal with and not everything has to revolve around James Sirius Potter. She might let him help though. This story contains: Hufflepuff conspiracies (of sorts), werewolves (lots), and one identity crisis (typical teenage stuff). Also some OC/OC and Louis W/OC. (Different OCs.)
1. Winning or Losing

**AN: Hello Readers! I'm finally posting a new story. It's been a while, hasn't it?**

 **1\. I love criticism or complements and all reviews will be replied to with PM. I'm afraid now that the story is completed I won't be able to reply to Guest Reviews though.**

 **2\. If you see any spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, or fluff ups of any kind, don't hesitate to point them out to me so I can fix them.**

 **3\. Finally, I hope you enjoy my story!**

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 **Chapter 1: Winning or Losing**

Every house has its secrets. This story is about Hufflepuffs'. Sorry if you wanted some exciting Gryffindor adventure, a thrilling Ravenclaw mystery, or even a ground breaking Slytherin scheme because that isn't what you'll find here. But that doesn't mean it's not worth reading because, believe it or not, Hufflepuff house is about to make a change that would shake the very foundations that held Hogwarts together.

That came out more dramatic than I originally intended. Oh well. Hi, I'm Danielle Finnigan and if you haven't already guessed, I am in Hufflepuff. I hear what everyone says about us; we weren't smart, brave, or ambitious enough to get into any of the other houses. I'm sure you can guess what I think about that. Despite what everyone says, I know Hufflepuffs value some of the most important concepts. Kindness, generosity, fairness, loyalty, hard work. These are all things that can get you sorted into Hufflepuff.

I knew before I even got to Hogwarts that Hufflepuff was where I belonged. Although my parents, Seamus and Lavender Finnigan, had both been in Gryffindor, I had always displayed Hufflepuff tendencies. I was happy to be sorted wherever I belonged so it didn't matter much to me. But I think my parents were disappointed when I didn't end up in Gryffindor. Despite this, I tried not to let their opinions upset me too much, as I knew they still love me as any good parent should.

Now I suppose I'm obligated to describe my appearance, aren't I? Well my hair is light brown…I think. It's actually kinda sad looking. It just hangs there at my shoulders and in my eyes. I like it though. My eyes are blue and have been likened to the ocean by my mother. That's good, right? Umm…I have small lips and a…nose. Okay, I'll just stop now.

Anyway, one of the first things you learn when you are sorted into Hufflepuff is the secret that all Hufflepuffs have been keeping for centuries. You see, many years ago the Hufflepuffs realised that the other three houses were all very bad at losing. Their pride and competitive nature made it very difficult for them to accept coming last place in a peaceful manner. Hufflepuffs however, were the perfect losers. We didn't mind defeat and we could lose graciously without kicking up a fuss.

We realised there would be much less fighting between the houses if we pulled back and let everyone else beat us. Someone has to lose after all, and it was better that it was someone who accepted it with a smile. It has been like that for a very long time and none of the other houses have ever caught on.

Unfortunately, there is a downside. As the constant losers we always get very little respect. Everyone else is convinced our values are not important simply because we don't use them to win. We are seen as pushovers, dimwits and cowards. That is why in my fifth year I decided enough was enough. I'm not usually the kind to care about my reputation but Hufflepuffs deserved respect, and I knew I wasn't the only one in my house thinking it.

~o0o~

This story begins on a relatively normal start of term at Hogwarts. The first day of classes had just ended and I was walking down to the Hufflepuff common room when I spotted a very miserable looking James Potter disappearing into an empty classroom. Perhaps if I had been someone else I would have decided it was none of my concern and kept walking. But I wasn't someone else. I didn't like the idea of anyone being upset so I decided to go and investigate.

I didn't really know much about James Potter. I knew he was famous of course, being the son of the great Harry Potter has that effect, but who didn't know that. I also knew that he was a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team, enjoyed pranking people mercilessly (especially Slytherins), and that he was constantly asking the smart, redheaded, muggle-born girl in his house to go on a date with him, despite her constant refusal. He'd always come off as quite arrogant to me but the confidence he has in his abilities is also quite admirable.

I knew his god brother, Teddy Lupin, because he comes around to our house a lot. My mother was attacked by Fenrir Greyback and turned into a werewolf during the Battle of Hogwarts so I was part werewolf like him. I don't turn during the full moon or anything, but I do get slightly grouchier and my senses go a little nuts. My father is working with Teddy and Hermione Weasley at the Ministry of Magic to gain more rights for werewolves and other magical creatures like them.

After I entered the empty classroom, I found him sitting quietly in the corner, slumped against the wall and staring at his hands in his lap. He didn't seem to notice me come in as he didn't look up when I walked a little closer. "Are you alright, Potter?" I asked gently, startling him into looking up. He didn't say anything for a while. It looked like he was struggling to decide what he wanted to say.

"I'm just tired of pretending is all," he finally told me quietly. I took that as an invitation to walk over and sit beside him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's just…" he trailed off with a sigh before turning to me with a slight frown, "As soon as I got to Hogwarts I realised that everyone had this perceived idea of me. They heard my name and looked at me and thought, 'he looks like his grandfather, and has the same name as his grandfather, so he must love pranking and fall hopelessly in love with some redhead on the first day of school'.

"Everyone wanted me to be James Potter and when they found out I wasn't, they were let down. McGonagall actually appeared disappointed when I didn't get into any trouble my first few months at Hogwarts. It just seemed like everyone would be happier if I was my grandfather, so that's what I became." He didn't even seem to notice I was there anymore. It wasn't hard to see that this had been eating at him for a while.

"My cousins didn't even notice I was acting differently," he added bitterly, looking down again, "But I didn't have to see the disappointment anymore when people met me, and I didn't have to worry about people not liking me. Only now I'm just tired of putting up the front."

"Then why do you do it?" I asked, "Why did you do it in the first place?"

"It was easy not to care what people thought of me when I didn't have to be myself," he replied simply.

"But if you live your life being someone else, who will be you?" I countered. He looked up at the question.

"But how do I stop now?" He asked me.

"It's never too late to start being yourself," I told him, "Just let everyone else think what they want to and do what _you_ want to."

"Thanks," he said with a slight smile. Then at my confused look he added, "For the advice." With that he stood up and headed for the door. But just before leaving he turned back and said, "You know you're actually pretty smart for a Hufflepuff." Before I could blink he was gone, probably thinking he'd just complemented me. I might have been angry with him if I didn't know he wasn't _trying_ to insult me or my house. I tried not to get angry at anyone as it can lead to rash or mean behaviour. However, that was definitely the last straw for me. Something had to be done to bring Hufflepuffs' reputation out of the mud.

~o0o~

And so, I entered the Hufflepuff Common Room that afternoon full of determination. It was time for Hufflepuff to bite back…In a way that won't hurt anyone's feelings, of course. Great, now I'm worried about upsetting people. What if the other houses won't be able to handle losing? It may seem cocky to think Hufflepuff could beat all of them if they tried but we're diligent and we don't break the rules, so I really have no doubts we could win if we really wanted to. That's the thing about Hufflepuffs; we work hard until we achieve our goals.

I got up onto a table at the front of the common room and clapped my hands together until everyone was looking at me. Maybe if I hadn't been so determined I would have been embarrassed at my weird attempt to get everyone's attention. Public speaking wasn't really my thing but I was going to give it a try anyway. I've just gotta hope that what we covered in muggle primary school on speeches is enough to get me through it.

"I know this is a little strange but I have something to say," I began simply. Some people exchanged confused glances and my friend shot me a puzzled look but no one told me to go away so I continued, "After the war some of our parents fought in ended, the other houses broke their stereotypes. Hermione Granger proved that not all Gryffindors had to be reckless fools, Luna Lovegood proved that not all Ravenclaws were boring bookworms, and Severus Snape proved that not all Slytherins were evil manipulators. Those houses started to be seen as more than what people originally thought." People still didn't seem to know where I was going with this.

"But what about Hufflepuff?" I questioned, "What about _us_? Despite Cedric Diggory competing in the Triwizard Tournament, _and_ many Hufflepuffs like Susan Bones fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts, we're still seen as the house for the spares. Now, usually I don't care about what people think of me, but the lack of respect for our great house is starting to get on my nerves. People think we're defenceless and stupid, our first years are targeted as easy prey, and the teachers who weren't in Hufflepuff thing we need to be babied! No one else recognises how important it is to be hard working, kind, patient, or fair." I saw people nodding in agreement and my confidence built slightly.

"I don't know about you guys but I think it's time for a change," I stated and some of them actually yelled out agreement and encouragement, "But a change isn't just going to happen. If we really want things to be different, if we really want to be respected, then we need to do something about it. I propose that this year we _don't_ throw the inter-house competitions." There were gasps at the suggestion, which I understood. Hufflepuff had been throwing the competitions since before my great grandparents were born, and to suddenly stop would be strange. I knew it might be hard to convince them.

"We need to show everyone what we are really capable of, and we can't do that if we're not trying our very best to prove it," I told everyone, "Let's work hard and show the other houses that our traits do in-fact get you somewhere. Let's show everyone that we could have won the house cup and the Quidditch cup any time we wanted because we _are_ formidable. We Hufflepuffs have exactly what we need to achieve anything we put our minds to and I think it's about time we exercised that right. The right to show some Hufflepuff pride! So who's with me?"

I was quite surprised when people started clapping and cheering. Maybe I can actually do this public speaking thing. I guess everyone was just as upset as I was. My best friend, Steve, looked absolutely stunned. I'm never usually so rebellious.

I carefully stepped down from the table I had been standing on and walked over to Steve. We had met on the train in first year and bonded instantly. "It'll be nice to try and win a match for a change," he told me with a grin. Steve was the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain this year. He had been shoving his new badge in my face since we met up with each other at Platform Nine and Three Quarters yesterday. Appearance wise he's a regular quidditch player. He's tanned with light blue eyes and is rarely ever without some kind of smile on his face. On any day he radiates good humour and it's hard to resist his constant and contagious optimism. Top that off with a mob of floppy chestnut brown hair and you have Steve. I don't play Quidditch (too violent) but I do enjoy watching it sometimes.

The other houses better watch out because it looks like this year Hufflepuff will be playing to win. It sure is going to be different.

~o0o~


	2. Eager or Reluctant

**Chapter 2: Eager or Reluctant**

I was so excited for classes to begin the next morning that I barely struggled to get out of bed like I usually do. And I wasn't the only one. The whole Hufflepuff common room was buzzing with excitement when I got downstairs. Everyone stopped to clap when they saw me and I felt like my face would burn off from embarrassment. It looked like everyone was as happy as I was to begin the Hufflepuff Uprising, as people were beginning to call it.

I was glad everyone was still on board. I had been worried people's agreement with my idea would waver overnight. My best friend Steve met me in the common room with a shocked expression on his face. "What's with the look?" I asked him in confusion.

"It's just…" he started teasingly, mock-amazement lacing his voice, "You actually got up on time today, Dani."

"Oh, quiet you," I said with a pout as I shoved him playfully. So I had a few problems mustering the will power to leave my comfy bed covers in the morning. It doesn't mean my friends have to poke fun at me about it. He just shot me an amused grin as we made our way out of the common room.

We soon reached the Great Hall and sat in our usual spots at the Hufflepuff table. We had just started eating when Jess, a Ravenclaw and my other best friend, rushed over to us. If I were to describe Jess' appearance in a word, that word would be 'scruffy'. That isn't to say she looks bad, just that it always looks like she tries to dress as quickly as possible each morning. That's probably because she does. Jess was never someone overly concerned about her appearance. She usually just twists her blonde hair into a messy bun with a few pencils. It's actually a bit impressive. I tried once but I couldn't get it to stay in place. I personally think she uses magic to get it to stay up. Coupled with her brown eyes and freckles, the look just kind of works for her. I can't imagine her any other way.

As she finally reached us she slammed down all the books and rolls of parchment she had been carrying onto the table. "I've done it!" She exclaimed enthusiastically as she plopped into her usual spot across from me and next to Steve.

"Well, hello to you to," Steve joked and she paused to shoot him a scowl.

"What exactly have you done?" I enquired.

"I have finally solved the dreaded Morning Problem," she elaborated dramatically.

"Really?" I questioned, beginning to match her excitement.

"Oh, this ought to be good," grinned Steve.

You see, Jess has always been very into solving problems, whether magical or muggle, because she likes to challenge herself. And at the end of last year, Steve had playfully asked if she could magic something up to get me out of bed in the morning so he wouldn't be eternally late for breakfast. Of course Jess, though she knew he had been joking, took it as a challenge and has since been trying to come up with a solution for what she has dubbed 'the Morning Problem'.

"Yes, I've definitely figured it out," she told us. "After analysing the data I have come to the conclusion that—"

"Wait, what data?" Steve interrupted.

"Are you talking about those questions you made me answer about my eating habits, moods in the morning, and how I sleep?" I asked.

"That is only part of the data, Dani," she replied exasperatedly, "I've also been looking at various animal sleeping patterns, the hormones that control sleep, and other things like that." No one could ever argue that Jess wasn't thorough in her research.

"Bloody hell," I heard Steve mutter under his breath. Luckily Jess didn't hear him.

"Anyway," she continued, "I have come to the conclusion that your bed is simply too comfy."

"That's it?" Steve laughed, "I could have told her that." I had to silently agree with Steve there. It didn't take a genius to figure out my bed was too nice to want to leave in the mornings.

"No, of course that isn't it!" Jess protested.

"Good because I was getting worried for a second," he said with a grin.

"That is just one of the main issue and I will touch on why it's relevant later," she carried on. I was starting to worry she wouldn't be done with the explanation in time for our first class because it sounded like it was going to be long. "One of the main reasons it is more appealing to stay in your bed in the morning is temperature. It is typically much colder early in the mornings at the time people need to get up. This makes it harder because our natural instincts are to snuggle deeper into our covers to fight away the cold.

"When you think about it, it all makes sense. Most micro-organisms go into a state of sleep _when its cold._ Animals hibernate during the winter _when its cold._ Maybe we don't just like to get up late in the day because it means more sleep. Maybe its partly because it is much warmer by then." I only had a very basic knowledge of muggle science so all that stuff about micro-whatsits just went over my head. However, what she was saying sounded promising and Jess was a muggle-born so she probably knew what she was talking about.

"Now, what I'm really saying here is that if we can somehow get our beds to warm up to the point of discomfort when we are supposed to get up, making us uncomfortable in our beds, it will make us more awake and more willing to get out of our beds." She then seemed to go off into her own world, mumbling stuff about wishing she had something called a 'space heater' and how to get warming charms to automatically come on at a certain time.

"That sounds pretty brilliant, Jess. But how do you intend to make our beds warm at the right time," I said to bring her out of her ramblings.

"That's what I'm having trouble with," she admitted dejectedly, "Finding a way to set off a timed warming charm shouldn't be impossible, however, spells wear off quickly and it would probably have to be cast every night if I can create one that works."

"Why don't you try runes?" Steve suggested, "They're much more permanent than spells."

"Steve, that's genius!" She exclaimed and jumped to her feet, "I have to get to the library and research that!"

Before she could so much as step away from the table Steve had already pulled her back into her seat. "You know the rules, Jess," he said firmly "Meals before books."

"But—" she tried.

"No," I interrupted, "You know if Steve and I didn't enforce that rule you'd never eat. Now have a good breakfast, and then you can go to the library." She sighed and started putting food on her plate like a petulant child.

Jess has been my friend just as long as Steve has. Even when she was sorted into a different house, we still remained incredibly close. She usually sits with Steve and I at the Hufflepuff table as she says the Ravenclaw girls in her year are all 'stuck up cows'. While I think it's a bit mean to refer to someone that way, I can't really argue with her in this case.

Due to their smarts, Ravenclaws can sometimes be quite arrogant. Some of them get impatient with people for not knowing or understanding things and that leads to them being a little mean. Then there's the other type of smart people. The ones who love explaining stuff to people. Jess was one of those. That's nice and all, but sometimes she has a bit of trouble getting across what she is trying to say. Her brain is always way ahead of her mouth and her words sometimes end up muddled in an attempt to catch up with her racing thoughts.

Jess practically ran out of the room as soon as her breakfast was finished. Steve watched her enthusiastic exit with a fond roll of his eyes. "Wait for it," he told me with a smirk. I just grinned as I spied Jess' things still lying on the table. That's when Jess suddenly came rushing back over, picked up the books and parchment she had forgotten, and quickly headed off again with an embarrassed blush gracing her face.

Jess tends to do that a lot when she has her head in a complicated problem to solve. So all the time. That's why she always keeps a couple of spare pencils that hold her blond hair up in a messy bun. Steve used to steal them to annoy her because she detested wearing it down as she said it got in the way. He had to stop after third year though, not only because she had started simply summoning them back, but also because she was advanced enough to begin hexing him and he—to quote him directly— 'feared for his wellbeing'.

I could understand why he felt that way because Jess was certainly capable of some down right terrifying hexes. However, I was pretty sure Jess would never actually hex anyone, especially her friends, no matter how many times she uses it as a threat to get us to leave her alone while she is researching. And I was absolutely certain she would never hex Steve because I happened to know she had a pretty big crush on him. I was also quite sure Steve liked her back. I actually suspect that Steve used to steal her pencils all the time to try and get her attention.

I was driven from my thoughts when the mail arrived. As usual I received a copy of the Daily Prophet. My father told me it used to be complete rubbish before the Second Wizarding War but apparently it's gotten better since then. I unrolled it and laid it out in front of me. As I looked at the front page my eyes widened and my hands flew to my mouth. "What is it?" Steve asked when he saw my reaction. I wordlessly picked up the paper and handed it to him.

"Wizard, Joseph Williamson, murdered in his apartment," he read the headline aloud. "Joseph Williamson…He was a friend of your mum's, wasn't he?"

"Something like that," I mumbled. The truth was, Mr Williamson was a werewolf. My mum often met with many other werewolves to discuss politics, cures, and other such things. The reason I didn't tell Steve that was because it wasn't exactly common knowledge that my mother was a werewolf. Many people know that she was attacked by Fenrir Greyback during the Battle of Hogwarts. But no one but some higher-ups in the Ministry knew that she actually got bitten. Honestly, I wouldn't mind telling my friends that I was part werewolf but it wasn't fair to my mum to tell her secrets.

Anyway, I had been quite alarmed by the news of Mr Williamson's murder as I had only seen him a few weeks before I left for my fifth year. My mum had organised a dinner at our house to celebrate a new law being passed, which enabled werewolves to receive a free supply of the Wolfsbane Potion from the Ministry. This is good because it was quite expensive before and, as it is hard for werewolves to get jobs, most couldn't afford it.

Another reason I was quite alarmed was that I could think of no other reason for a dark wizard to kill him other that him being a werewolf. He was a well liked pureblood, who's family had stayed neutral during the wars. The question is, how did they find out he was a werewolf?

~o0o~

Thoughts of Mr Williamson plagued my mind all the way to Herbology. However, he did eventually leave my thoughts when I remembered that today was the first day Hufflepuffs would actually be trying to win house points. I was soon filled with excitement and it didn't waver as class started.

I quite liked Herbology. Professor Longbottom was a very good teacher and being able to put my wand down for a while is nice. Overall I'm pretty good at magic but I do have this problem that crops up every now and then. I sort of have this tendency to…blow things up. Or sometimes they just burst into flames. It's a problem I've always had. Jess calls in Finnigan's Law; What can catch fire, will catch fire. Usually I can get a spell eventually but, almost every time I first attempt something, there will be some kind of combustion, spontaneities or otherwise. Though there are a few spells that really blow up in my face. When I first cast a Lumos my desk exploded. The teacher almost had a heart attack before bursting out laughing, muttering something about me being just like my father. I've never quite got the hang of the stupid wand lighting charm. I tend to avoid it as best I can.

I almost jumped for joy when I saw a Hufflepuff called Raven raised her hand to answer Professor Longbottom's first question. Raven had always been very good at Herbology but she had never tried to answer a question before because most Hufflepuffs went out of their way to avoid house points. Professor Longbottom called on her with a surprised but pleased expression on his face. Raven briefly looked at me, probably as I was the one to initiate Hufflepuff's change, and I smiled in encouragement.

She took a deep breath and answered the question quickly. Professor Longbottom smiled and awarded her ten points. Soon she was eagerly answering every question the Professor asked, smiling happily as she did it. At the end of the class, Raven left the greenhouse beaming.

Later, I was happy to see that Raven wasn't the only Hufflepuff embracing the change. Throughout all of my classes, almost every Hufflepuff went out of their way to try and earn house points. If it continued this way, we would easily win the House Cup.

This wasn't much of a surprise to me though. While Ravenclaws were smart, they were usually very busy with their pet projects and didn't care much for things that they weren't passionate about. Most of them made an effort to get good grades but very few of them tried to participate in class. Most Gryffindors either didn't pay attention in class, or didn't know the answers to questions asked. A lot of them were good at practical work as they found it fun but not many of them payed much attention to the theory. Slytherins only answered questions in class if it somehow benefited their personal goals.

I could definitely see Hufflepuff doing well as the only traditional ways to earn points was in class or by winning Quidditch games. Hufflepuff's tryouts weren't until Saturday. Hopefully Steve can put together a great team.

Once classes were over I went up to the Owlery to post a few letters. I had written one basic letter to my parents to tell them how the year was going. I also wrote one to Teddy as he and I, along with another half werewolf Candace, who we were very close. It's just nice to know people who are going through what you are. I considered mentioning my conversation with Potter to Teddy but ultimately decided against it. Potter would tell his family when he was ready. Of course, I couldn't write to Teddy without also penning a quick letter to Candace. With all my letters sent off with a school owl, I headed down to dinner.

~o0o~

After an evening study session in the library with Jess, (I wanted to be a bit ahead so I could get house points by answering questions) I was walking back to the Hufflepuff common room when I heard a voice call out, "Oi! Hufflepuff girl!" I didn't see any other Hufflepuffs in the area so I turned around to see James Potter making his way over to me.

"Just the girl I wanted to see," he said when he reached me, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," I replied. I wonder what he wants to talk about.

Before I knew it he had grabbed my arm and dragged me into a secret passage. He sat on the floor of the passage and patted the spot next to him, indicating he wanted me to sit there. I looked at the spot hesitantly for a second but did reluctantly joined him on the floor. "So what do you want to talk about?" I asked him.

"I just…" he began while nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "You know how yesterday you were like, 'It's never too late to start being yourself.' Or something like that and, while that sounds very smart and stuff, I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to do that. So…How do you suggest I start being myself?" Why on earth was he asking _me_ that?

"You know, I'm not some never ending source of wisdom," I told him in confusion.

"Right, sorry," he mumbled with a slight blush, "You probably have better things to do than listening to my problems. I'm sorry to bother you." I've never seen James Potter blush before. He was usually so confident. He made to stand but I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"No, don't go. That isn't what I meant," I said, "I don't mind hearing your problems and trying to give you advice. I just don't understand why you're coming to me about it."

"Well, no one else really knows," he explained, "I'm not sure if my friends will understand and I figured I could trust you because nothing I said is being discussed around the school. I just wanted to talk to someone." I nodded in understanding, "So how do you think I should start being myself?"

"Just stop pretending," I suggested.

"But how?" he asked, "I don't even know what's me and what's my grandfather anymore."

"Um…How about Quidditch? Is that something you enjoy or do you just play it because your grandfather did?"

"Quidditch is great!" he exclaimed a little defensively, "…But…"

"But?" I encouraged.

"Well, I kind of want to play keeper," he confessed, "I chose to be a chaser because that's what my grandfather did, but truthfully I prefer playing keeper."

"So do it," I advised.

"I can't just switch positions," he protested, "I'm captain this year."

"So what?" I questioned.

"A captain can't just change their position out of the blue!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?" I pressed.

"Because!" he said, "Because…I suppose our keeper did graduate last year…Maybe I _could_ change positions."

"Good," I smiled, "And I don't think anyone will care as long as you play it well." He nodded.

"So what else can I do?" he asked.

"You've just got to think about the things you want to do," I proposed, "Do things because you enjoy them. Then you know your doing them for yourself and not for anyone else. Try not to consider what other people think because, if they want you to be something else, then they're not worth your time."

He smiled and stood up. "Thanks for that," he said as he offered me a hand to help me to my feet.

"Any time," I replied. And I meant it too. We then left the passage and went our separate ways. I felt so bad for Potter. It must have been horrible for him to feel he had to be someone else to make people happy. I hope everything works out for him.

~o0o~


	3. Truth or Lies

**Chapter 3: Truth or Lies**

It was Saturday. Incase you've forgotten, I'll remind you that today is when the Hufflepuff Quidditch tryouts are being held. All of the sporty people in our house were very excited as the trials were actually going to mean something this year. However, no one was looking forward to it more than Steve. He was hoping to go down in history as the first captain to win Hufflepuff the Quidditch cup in over a century. He was also kind of nervous though. Hufflepuff didn't usually hold Quidditch trials. They usually just gave the spots to whoever wanted them. Steve was a little worried he would hold the trials wrong (whatever he means by that). That was why I was going to come with him to help out.

It was early in the morning and Steve and I were walking to the Quidditch Pitch. Our arms were laden with Quidditch supplies and I was starving. Steve and I had to skip breakfast because he wanted to get there early to prepare. Doesn't he know how important breakfast is? "Don't you know how important breakfast is?" I asked him as we walked.

"You're still thinking about that?" He sighed irritably. Now I felt bad. I knew this was all stressing him out. I should have kept my mouth shut. "Stop feeling bad," he told me. My friends know me so well. "I'm sorry for making you skip breakfast and I know you're hungry but I really need your help," he continued, "You don't even have to stay the whole time. Just until I've got the tryouts started and then you can leave to grab breakfast. Alright?"

"Right," I answered, "Sorry." He rolled his eyes at my apology.

We finally got to the pitch only to find that it was already occupied. It appeared that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was having an early practice session. Steve dumped his stuff on the ground and stomped almost angrily onto the pitch. I sighed at his anger before putting what I was carrying down and going to follow him. Steve was stressed right now and he tended to lash out a little when he was stressed. The last thing we needed right now was a confrontation with the Gryffindors.

Two of them had already landed and started talking with Steve. I couldn't hear what they were saying but as I got closer I realised the Gryffindors were Potter and his cousin Fred Weasley II. I ran the rest of the way and soon reached them.

"But the Hufflepuffs never use their tryout time," Potter was arguing. You see, the school always gives all the houses a time for them to hold tryouts on the pitch, but it is up to the captains to schedule practices. It is true that Hufflepuff has never used theirs before.

"Well we're using it this year," Steve replied irritably. I stepped forward and pulled him backwards slightly.

"Look," I said to the two Gryffindors, "This is our tryout time and we plan on using it this year so I'm sorry but we'd appreciate it if you could give us the pitch. It's not too much trouble, is it?"

"Hufflepuff girl!" Potter exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Weasley shot Potter a questioning look.

"What you think she can't play Quidditch because she's a Hufflepuff and a girl?" Steve asked angrily, misinterpreting Potter's exclamation. It was sweet of him to try and defend me though.

"No!" Potter denied quickly, looking slightly alarmed.

"That isn't what he meant, Steve," I half-scolded, "Stop picking fights."

"I'm not picking fights. They are!" Steve argued, angrily gesturing at Potter and Weasley.

"Stop," I told him firmly and he clamped his mouth shut grudgingly. I then turned to address the Gryffindors. "Can you guys just leave and let us have the pitch now?"

"Yes, sorry," Potter said hastily before adding, "But you know I didn't mean that girls can't play Quidditch, right? My mother was a Quidditch player and—"

"Potter, it's okay," I interrupted, "I know what you meant."

"Oh, good," he said with relief.

"So are you actually going to leave anytime soon or are you just going to stand there?" Steve asked rhetorically.

"Alright, we're going already," Potter replied and waved at the Gryffindor players still flying. They all landed and headed over.

"The Hufflepuffs want the pitch right now for tryouts, so I'm afraid we are going to have to continue this another time," Potter explained to his team. There was some groaning and complaints but they all eventually started to leave.

Once Potter had lead the Gryffindors away, Steve went strait back to being nervous. I guess the Gryffindors being here had been a good distraction. "So what do I do first?" I asked him.

"First," he said as he lifted a big bucket full of little white and orange balls, "You enchant all the ping pong balls to fly around like the snitch."

"What's a pig pog?" I asked as he placed the bucket in front of me.

"Really, Dani?" He sighed. "I know both your parents are wizards but how do you not know what _ping pong_ is?"

"Hey! They didn't mention it in Muggle Studies," I said defensively. Steve was a half blood so he knew quite a bit about the muggle world from his muggle born mother. I also knew a fair amount since my grandfather is a muggle and I went to a muggle school until I was Hogwarts age, but I still have quite a few gaps in my muggle knowledge.

"Anyway, you know the spell to enchant these to fly right?" He questioned.

"Yeah," I said. "Don't worry, I've got this."

He nodded and started doing other things as I began to enchant the pig p—no, _ping_ pong balls. It was slow work and there were a lot of them. Now I know why Steve thought we needed to get down here so early.

~o0o~

Steve finally let me go and have breakfast once I had finished enchanting the ping pong balls. The great hall was already starting to empty out by the time I got there. I looked around but didn't see Jess anywhere. She's probably in the library. I did see Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team though. He smiled and nodded at me from his seat. I saw Weasley look from him to me curiously.

I turned away from the Gryffindors and sat down at the Hufflepuff table. My owl was already there, waiting for me with a copy of today's Daily Prophet and a letter. I unrolled the Daily Prophet first and sighed what I saw there had been another murder. The fifth one so far. All of them had been werewolves. At least none of them had been my mother. Yet. I hope the aurors catch these murderers soon. Before they… I didn't even want to think about it. But there was something else too.

Apparently the aurors had released more information about the attacks. All the victims were found near a small puddle of blood that had come out of their ears. What could that mean? Why would their ears be bleeding like that? I opened the letter next and I recognised my dad's handwriting instantly.

 _Dear Danielle,_

 _I know you must have realised what is going on by now. You're a smart girl and the recent murders can't have been beyond your notice. You've also probably realised what all the victims have in common. I know you were most likely planning to ask me about it soon so I thought I'd save you the trouble. You deserve to be in the loop and I know I hated it when my mum kept things from me in an effort to 'protect' me._

 _Things are not going very well at the ministry. The aurors are all over the place trying to find the culprits. Only a few people know what the victims have in common and those who don't are growing increasingly worried. Without the key piece of knowledge needed to connect the dots, the attacks look random and that terrifies people._

 _Now what I am about to tell you is very secret but I know I can trust you not to tell anyone. The murderers have actually been in contact with the ministry. Only some of the higher ups and the people directly involved know. They're a group that are calling themselves the Hunters. They openly admitted in the letter that they were targeting you-know-whats._

 _But that wasn't all. They said they wanted to purge the world of them forever. They're not just targeting you-know-whats. They're targeting everyone who has ever been scratched by a you-know-what and everyone who has you-know-what blood in them. They intend to murder everyone who has a trace of the you-know-what gene in them. I don't think I need to tell you what that means however, just to be safe I'll tell you anyway._

 _I don't know how these murderers seem to know who's a you-know-what. You know as well as I do that very few people have access to the list. But it would be foolish of us to hope that they don't know about you and your mother. Sooner or later they will be coming after you. Hopefully we'll be able to stop them before then, but until it is safe I want you to be very careful. Stay at Hogwarts. You should be safe there. Don't go anywhere alone and please don't go to Hogsmeade. It isn't as safe as a lot of people like to believe and your mother and I wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to you. We both love you very much._

 _Stay safe, love dad._

My hands were shaking as I clutched the letter tightly. I hastily folded the letter and shoved it into my robes before springing to my feet and hastily exiting the hall. The hunger I had been feeling before had completely left my mind at the new information my dad had written me. I had already figured out most of it but to hear it confirmed was worrying. I noticed my dad hadn't actually used the word werewolf. He was probably worried someone else might get a hold of the letter.

I wandered the castle aimlessly as I thought hard about everything I knew. How did these people know if someone was a werewolf? My mind shifted to the list that my dad mentioned in his letter. There was a single list at the ministry that had all the names of werewolves, people scratched by werewolves, and people descendant from werewolves. Few people knew about it but even fewer people had access to it.

As far as I knew the only people who were allowed to look at the list were the people on the list, the Minister of Magic (Kingsley Shacklebolt), the Head Auror (Harry Potter), and the head of the department that handles magical creatures and such (Hermione Granger-Weasley). I doubted Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harry Potter, or Hermione Granger-Weasley had anything to do with it, so that narrows it down. But unless the werewolves were murdering themselves it reduces the number of obvious suspects to zero.

Suddenly, I heard a bang and was pulled abruptly from my thoughts. I looked ahead and saw a door that had presumably just been slammed a few paces ahead of me. I slowly moved forward and pulled in open, peaking inside. I watched quietly as a Gryffindor I recognised from a few of my classes kicked the wall in frustration. She stepped back and moaned in pain from the impulsive attempt to knock down a stone wall with her foot.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She jumped and spun around, eyes wide. She was pretty. Her hair was dark and long, while her eyes were a clear blue. She looked stylish and neat, but not like she spends lots of time getting ready. Cute little snitch earrings hung from her ears and somehow weren't tangled in her hair. Personally I found that in itself very impressive. Even now, when she was clearly quite upset, her large lips were curved up into a sad and satirical smile. As if she was amused by her own bitter feelings.

"Yes," she lied after clearing her throat slightly, "I'm completely fine."

"We both know that isn't true," I told her.

"Look, I don't know what your deal is, but can you just leave me alone," the girl snapped. Maybe if I wasn't so stressed out I would have listened to her. However, I need a distraction right now and talking to her might just make the both of us feel better.

"Sometimes talking helps," I told her simply. She sighed heavily.

"I know you probably think you're being nice but I don't need some Hufflepuff sticking her nose in my business," she snarked at me angrily.

"You never know," I persisted.

"You know what?" She said, "Fine. If you want to listen to my problems take a seat because it's going to be a bloody long conversation."

I beamed at her and she rolled her eyes as we both made ourselves comfortable on the floor. "Now where do I start?" The Gryffindor wondered aloud.

"Just say what you feel comfortable saying," I suggested, "There's no hurry."

"Well then," she began after a moment, "I suppose you've already noticed I'm a bitch."

"What?!" I spluttered. That was not what I had been expecting her to say. "How can you say that about yourself?"

"Because it's true, I guess," she replied, "I mean, I don't want to be a bitch. It kind of just happens. Everyone I've ever known has told me I'm a bitch. My so called friends, my siblings, my bo— _ex-_ boyfriend. That means it must be true, right?" She'd said all this like she was discussing the whether. If I wasn't paying attention I would think that none of this affected her at all. But there was a tinge of bitterness in her voice that gave away how much what she told me stung her.

"No it doesn't," I insisted hurriedly, "Why do you think people are calling you that?"

"I don't know. Because I am a bitch," she shrugged, "What does that word really mean anyway? People just kind of throw it around. Are they saying I'm mean, or selfish, or what? What is it about me that everyone seems to find so bitch-like?"

"What do you think people don't like about you?" I pressed.

"Are you going to reply to everything with a question?" she asked incredulously.

"You're stalling," I informed her patiently.

"Fine," she mumbled, "I guess I tend to say things that can be interpreted as offensive. Nothing ever seems to come out of my mouth sounding how I thought it would and I always make such a mess of my friendships that way. I just tell people what I think of them. No bullshit. Then they say I'm a bitch. I'm not trying to make them mad at me. I just don't beat around the bush." She'd lost her casual tone somewhere in her explanation.

"I can tell you're not a bitch," I said.

She cleared her throat and stood up suddenly. "I don't need your empty words, alright?" She said irately, "You're just saying whatever you think I want to hear because that's what people like you do. What you say doesn't really mean much." I stood up after her and moved to block her way.

"I don't lie," I said calmly. "Everything I say is what I really think. I can tell you're not a bitch because you care so much. I can see it in the way you talk about everything. You hate that you're hurting people's feelings and making them angry at you. You don't like to lie either. You like to be honest with people and you want honesty back. But some people don't like to hear the truth. And so they get hurt and angry and they lash out. They call you a bitch because they're being defensive. Not having a filter doesn't make you a bitch. I don't think anyone's a bitch unless they're actually _trying_ to hurt people. So you are definitely not a bitch. Never let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Well um…" She said hesitantly as her face melted into an almost shy smile, "Thanks."

"No problem," I replied automatically, "I never got your name by the way."

"It's Amelia," she told me, "But call me Millie. And you are…?"

"Danielle," I supplied, "You can call me whatever you want."

"Nice to meet slash unload my insecurities on you," she said shamelessly.

"Err…Nice to meet you too," I said uncertainly. The way she seemed to handle herself so brazenly knocked me off balance slightly. She wasn't afraid to say anything she wanted to. I liked it. "And if you're looking for some great people to be friends with, you can stop by the Hufflepuff table any mealtime and eat with my friends and I."

"Thanks for the offer," she said, "You never know, I might just take you up on it."

Neither of us said much else as we headed out the classroom except for a few quick farewells. I hope she really does come and eat with us sometime. I really like how genuine she is. It's a breath of fresh air. But now that she was gone I was left alone to my thoughts again, and my mind jumped right back to the letter in my pocket.

Lucky for me, my mind wasn't on the letter for long because I soon (figuratively) ran into Potter. "Hufflepuff girl!" He greeted me, "Hi." It was then I realised that although we had spoken three times now, Potter still didn't know what my name was. Should I tell him? Actually, it might be fun to wait and see if he asks me what it is.

"Hey, Potter," I said back.

"I was actually looking for you," he admitted nervously.

"Oh, why?" I asked, "Do you need more advice?"

"No I…" He hesitated and I nodded encouragingly, "I just saw you leaving breakfast quite suddenly without eating anything and was wondering if something was wrong." This took me by surprise.

"Oh um…No," I stuttered slightly, "Nothing is wrong. I just wasn't hungry." I should probably tell you right now that I am terrible at lying. Potter probably realised I was lying right away. However, if he hadn't, my stomach grumbling at that exact moment probably gave me away.

"Sure," he said sarcastically as my face turned pink. He must have decided not to pry just then because instead of asking me why I lied he said, "Breakfast is still available at the moment since it's the weekend. You could probably still go down and eat with the late risers."

"Yeah, thanks. I'll do that," I informed him.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked.

"That's okay," I said, "I saw that you already ate."

"Oh okay," he nodded, "I'll see you around then."

"Yeah. Bye," I said and headed down to the great hall to grab a late breakfast, the letter laying almost forgotten in my pocket. Almost.

And that entire day it didn't occur to me that Potter must have been watching me to notice me leaving breakfast early without eating and that I should wonder why he was doing that. It also didn't occur to me that he might not have just been being nice when he'd offered to go to breakfast with me even though he'd already eaten. Another thing that didn't occur to me was that since I noticed Potter had already eaten, I must have been watching him a little as well. Nope, none of that crossed my mind at all.

~o0o~


	4. Love or Hate

**Chapter 4: Love or Hate**

It was eight days until Halloween and it had been a couple of weeks since the Quidditch tryouts. The team was actually looking pretty good. I was seeing less of Steve these days as he was training himself and his team throughly. People were starting to take notice of how Hufflepuffs were acting a little differently this year. First, with actually trying to create a good Quidditch team, and also with us being in the lead of the house competition. The Ancient Runes professor and our head of house, Hannah Abbott-Longbottom, was confused at first. She had been in Hufflepuff and she knew that Hufflepuffs always throw the house competitions. However, someone must have filled her in because now she just beamed at us a lot, especially me.

The other teachers and students were confused too. Hufflepuff had never been doing so well in the house competition as far as any of them could remember. No one was too bothered about it though. They probably thought things would just go back to normal soon. Not likely.

I hadn't actually seen Potter around much. I usually spotted him at the Gryffindor table around meal times. Sometimes I would hear him arguing with Fred Weasley about not wanting to prank anymore. I also haven't seen much of Millie. She never actually took me up on my offer to hang around with Jess, Steve and I. At least not yet.

As for the werewolf killers who called themselves the Hunters, there was nothing new in the papers apart from a few more murders and I hadn't heard anything more from my dad. They still didn't seem to know why the victims' ears bled. No one I'd known that well had been murdered yet. It seems as though the Hunters were starting with people not many others would miss. They've been going after werewolves who were old or who didn't have a lot of friends and family. But I knew soon they would be working their way up to the people I cared about.

It was a constant worry weighing down on my mind. And to make matters worse, there is a full moon tomorrow. Full moons are never easy for me but this month I was more concerned about the Hunters. They must have something planned for the full moon and it obviously won't be good.

Since I was only half werewolf I didn't change on the full moon. It still affected though. I've always had supernatural senses but around the full moon they heighten even more and, while that sounds like a good thing, everything suddenly being amplified just ends up giving me a terrible headache and making me super jumpy. My nails and teeth also start to hurt like they are trying to change into claws and fangs but can't. Eating becomes a little difficult because of how much it hurts to chew. All in all, it's quite unpleasant. However, the worst part of the whole ordeal is trying to act completely normal while I suffer through it.

Anyway, since the full moon was tomorrow, my senses were starting to heighten even more than usual. I didn't have a headache from it yet but that doesn't usually hit till around noon. Luckily, I don't have to worry about my teeth and nails hurting until the actual full moon, but I did know the headache would get worse and worse until the full moon has gone down.

Trying to go about my day like everything is normal was difficult, but I'd gotten used to it a while ago. Steve is pretty easy to fool. If he notices me acting weird I can just claim it's cramps and he'll leave me alone. Jess was harder to deal with at first but around second year she stopped asking me about it for some reason. It makes me suspect she actually figured out that I'm part werewolf. She is incredibly smart. However, if she does know she hasn't confronted me about it.

There were only two other half werewolves at Hogwarts this year. They were third year twins in Slytherin. In a way, they were kind of like my younger siblings, just as there older sister Candace was like my older sister too. There were few half werewolves and we were all pretty close. It was just us and Teddy who were under twenty five. There were others but they were all quite a lot older.

It was breakfast time and I was eating at the Hufflepuff table with Steve. Jess hadn't arrived yet but I expect she'd be down soon. That's when Millie came over. It was a bit of a surprise as I hadn't spoken to her since that one time after Quidditch tryouts. I had assumed she didn't want to hang around with me when she didn't approach me earlier. I wonder what changed her mind. "Hey, Dani," she said casually as she took Jess' usual spot by Steve and opposite me.

"Oh, hi Millie," I said welcomingly, "I was starting to think you weren't going to sit with me."

"Well I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by," she said with a grin.

"Err…Dani," Steve said looking between Millie and I with confusion, "Who's this?"

"Right, Steve this is Millie. Millie this is Steve," I introduced.

"Oh I know who he is," Millie said, "Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, right?"

"Yeah," Steve confirmed, a little surprised, "You're a Quidditch fan?"

"A fan and a player," she said with a nod, "I just replaced one of the beaters who graduated on the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year." After that they just got lost in Quidditch talk. I was glad they were hitting it off and hopefully Millie would distract Steve from noticing how weird I'll be acting because of the full moon.

"Hey guys, guess what!" Jess exclaimed as she rushed over to us. I winced as her loud tone jarred my sensitive hearing. "I just finished the…" She trailed off as she spotted Millie sitting in her spot next to Steve. "Who is she?"

"I'm Millie," the Gryffindor replied before I could, "Who are you?"

"It's Jess," she said back in an icy tone I didn't know she was capable of, "You're in my seat."

"Oh sorry," Millie apologised in a way that showed how little she actually meant it.

"Well are you going to move?" Jess demanded.

"I quite like this spot," she stated.

"But I always sit there," the Ravenclaw said. I could tell she was starting to get frustrated. This was bad. I didn't think Millie and Jess would clash like this. Although I suppose I should have predicted it when Millie sat in Jess' spot. But I knew that wasn't all it was. Jess has fancied Steve for a while and she probably didn't like the way Millie and Steve were sitting so close to each other. I was pretty sure Millie had noticed this too.

"Now now, girls," Steve butted in jokingly, "There's no need to fight over me." That only made things worse of course. I don't think Steve would have said it if he realised they really were partly fighting over him.

"This isn't about you, Steve," Jess lied vehemently, "I just want to sit in my spot."

"Is that all you want?" Millie asked, boldly referring to her crush on Steve. Jess reddened and scowled at Millie. My full moon headache was starting to appear early because of all the yelling and I moaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. This is so not the time for an argument.

"Actually never mind," Jess said suddenly and I looked up to see he looking worriedly at me, "Now is not the time to be having such a silly argument. I'll just sit over there next to Dani."

Millie and Steve adopted confused look at Jess' sudden change. Now I was almost certain Jess knew my secret. Why else would she stop the argument so suddenly and why else would she say that it was a bad time to be having it.

"You know?" I asked Jess quietly as she took a seat next to me.

"I've known for a while, Dani," Jess whispered back.

"I thought you might," I sighed, "You are a bloody genius. But you're going to have to tell me more about how you found out later."

"Sure," she agreed. Jess was always eager to tell us how she figures out things. "Library after Charms?"

"Yep," I confirmed, "And I suppose I should tell you that's not all we'll be talking about. I know what that argument was actually about." She blushed and looked away. That's when I realised Steve and Millie were staring at us, no doubt wondering what we had been whispering about.

"So Jess," I began at a normal volume in an attempt to make them forget about the whispered conversation I had just had with her, "What was it you were saying when you came in? You seemed excited."

"Oh right," Jess remembered and her earlier excitement immediately returned full force. "I finished the permanent timed heating charm to get you up in the morning! It uses a combination of runes and spell work."

"About time," Steve jumped in teasingly, "It took you weeks to work it out. I thought you were loosing your touch."

"Well maybe you should do it next time then," Jess snapped with a glare, knowing full well he probably wouldn't be able to. It didn't seem like she was in the mood for his usual teasing at the moment.

"Woah, I was just joking," he said in surprise.

"I guess I'm just not in the mood for your substandard humour today," she said as she stood up, "I'm just going to head to the library."

"But you haven't eaten anything," Steve pointed out. This is when Steve would usually pull her back into her seat but seeing as she wasn't seated next to him, he could do nothing.

"Skipping one meal won't kill me, Steve," she said a little harshly back before leaving the hall in a hurry.

"What did I do?" Steve asked me cluelessly. He looked like a puppy that had just been kicked.

"I better go after her," I sighed, she looked upset. I was also figuring that we could get the talk we planned to have after charms out of the way early. Plus all the noise in the great hall was starting to get to my sensitive hearing.

"But you haven't eaten anything either," Steve protested but I just ignored him and left. The guy took his meals way to seriously, but I knew missing one every now and then wasn't the end of the world. Not that I want to make a habit of skipping meals, of course. Oh, now I feel bad for ignoring him. He's only worried about us. And he was making such a downtrodden face.

When I got to the library I found Jess in her usual reclusive spot. She was crying. I immediately felt slightly guilty because this entire mess was kind of my fault. I liked Millie but she was upsetting Jess and maybe it would have been best if I hadn't invited her to sit with us. They seemed to hate each other. I walked over and sat beside Jess. "He's such an idiot," She said between sobs. I didn't need to ask to know she was talking about Steve. "Why does he have to be so oblivious?"

"He wouldn't be Steve if he wasn't such a numbskull," I said fondly. She let out a strangled laugh.

"Love is stupid," she sighed miserably.

"You can say that again," someone standing over us said. We both looked up quickly to see Millie.

"What are you doing here?" Jess sniffed angrily as she made a hopeless attempt to dry her eyes with her sleeves.

"I actually wanted to apologise," Millie confessed quietly as she sat down across from us, "We got off to a bit of a bad start and I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"I could have been a little friendlier as well," Jess admitted sheepishly, "It was silly of me to be jealous like that."

"I wasn't exactly helping matters."

"When did I become like this?" Jess questioned dejectedly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I always used to read silly books about girls falling madly in love with random guys and think the girls were so foolish," she said quietly, "I never used to understand how they could fall in love so quickly and for such fickle reasons. I always said I would never be one of those girls who fell in love and acted really irrational."

"Falling in love is nothing to be ashamed of," I insisted, "And there's not really anything wrong with falling in love quickly. Everyone does things at their own pace. Whether it be falling in love or drawing a picture. All people are different and they all take in the world in different ways. That includes what they think love is and how they deal with it."

"I still think love's stupid," Millie intoned.

"What happened?" Jess asked her.

"What happened with what?" She replied.

"There must be a reason you feel that way," Jess clarified, "You already know mine." Millie sighed.  
"You can tell us, you know," I told her. At first I thought she wouldn't.

"My boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend," she finally stated.

"What a dick," Jess said angrily, which is good because I wasn't sure how to respond.

"And it sucks because I know that, but I can't help still loving him anyway," Millie said sadly, "It doesn't make sense. I want to hate him but…I just don't."

"Love doesn't make sense," Jess put in.

"At least you guys have been in love," I sighed.

"Don't worry," Millie said, "It'll get you eventually."

"Probably," Jess agreed. I smiled at them and they reluctantly smiled back.

"Okay," Mille said suddenly as she stood up, "Self pity time is over. We have to go to class." Jess and I stood up with her. I had completely forgotten about that. I hope I won't be late for potions.

~o0o~

Once classes were over, I met up with Jess in the library. My headache had officially begun but luckily it wasn't too bad yet. "Okay, spill," I demand half jokingly, "How did you figure it out?"

"A better question would be: How has no one else figured it out?" she said back.

"How about: Why is it so supposedly obvious?" I amended.

"Better," she approved. I gave her a playful shove.

"But seriously," I said, "Please explain."

"Well I quickly noticed that you seem to be in pain sometimes," she began, "At first I though you got regular migraines but then I noticed they only seemed to happen once a month. Everyone already knows that your mum was attacked by a werewolf when she was younger and that she was scratched. Because of that I decided to check when the full moons were and see if they corresponded with your headaches. Once I found they did I deduced that you were part werewolf. You couldn't be a full werewolf because I still see you around the full moon. But I know that if your mum was only scratched then the gene wouldn't have been passed on. So I realised that your mum was probably bitten when she was attacked but the ministry let her claim she was just scratched instead, probably because she was a war hero and she didn't deserve to be a social pariah."

"Do you think other people will figure out the same?" I asked her worriedly.

"No one else except Steve knows you well enough to notice," she reassured me, "Steve hasn't figured it out because he's assuming it's your _other_ time of the month. As long as you don't do anything to draw too much attention to yourself, no one else will notice."

Oh no. Do anything to draw too much attention to myself like standing up and giving a speech in front of all of Hufflepuff to tell them they should stop letting people beat them. It's true that people in Hufflepuff were paying a little more attention to me. I was the instigator of our secret movement and some of them were looking to me as an example or for advice. I didn't mind but that certainly meant I had drawn unwanted attention to myself. It was making my head hurt more just thinking about it. "Well thanks for explaining that to me," I said a little awkwardly, "I'm going to go now, bye!" Then I rushed out of the library probably looking incredibly suspicious.

Soon, I was just walking down the stone corridors of Hogwarts with no destination in mind. Between the werewolf hunters and me stupidly drawing attention to myself it was looking more and more like everyone was going to find out my mum's secret everyday. Oh, what have I done? Because I just had to give that stupid speech in front of the Hufflepuff Common Room I may have just blown my mums secret. Why couldn't I have just left well enough alone. The Hufflepuffs were happy the way things were. No, that's a lie. Things weren't that great for Hufflepuffs. But since I told everyone to try winning I have noticed an improvement. And everyone in Hufflepuff was really excited for our first Quidditch match against Ravenclaw in November.

I was jerked from my thoughts when I was grabbed suddenly and pulled into a secret passage. Call it instincts, which always run high around the full moon, or paranoia due to the werewolf hunters, but I had my wand out in a matter of seconds and pointed directly at the persons throat. "Someone's a little jumpy today," Potter said as he grinned at me, not at all concerned with the wand aimed directly at him.

"Well what do you expect when you go around suddenly dragging people into secret passages?" I asked rhetorically although I still blushed as I put my wand away, "Especially with all those murders happening." I added the last part on a whim, in an attempt to find out how much Potter's dad had told him.

"Oh come on," Potter laughed doubtfully, "Hogwarts is completely safe."

"People always say that, but when you actually look at what's happened, it stops seeming so safe," I said, feeling like I needed to defend my jumpiness, "You of all people should know that considering most of the dangerous stuff centred around your dad."

"But that's in the past," Potter told me, "Things are different now." I still wasn't entirely convinced but I decided to drop the subject.

"Was there a reason you pulled me in here, Potter?" I asked him curiously.

"Oh right," he smiled sheepishly before going and sitting down against the wall. I automatically went to join him.

"So, how is being yourself working out for you?" I said to get him talking.

"It's actually going pretty good," he said as he shot me a grin before his face fell into a frown, "It's just my friends. I don't think they like me that much anymore."

"Why do you say that?" I asked in confusion. Potter and his friends always seemed really close and I kinda figured he wasn't acting that differently. It would be hard to act like someone else without parts of yourself seeping through. Not to mention the fact that not much is known about Potter's grandfather so he couldn't have been acting a lot like someone else if he didn't know enough about said person. Did that make sense?

"They all keep saying they're worried about me," he told me dejectedly, "It's like if I'm not acting like my grandfather, I'm doing something wrong. Fred's always nagging me to prank with him and Albus keeps looking at me like I'm going to spontaneously combust because I'm not teasing him as much. The entire Quidditch team keeps going on about me switching positions and everyone else is asking me why I stopped trying to get Hayley Simons to date me. They all hate the real me." Hayley Simons is the red-headed muggle born that Potter used to ask out all the time.

"I don't think that's it at all, Potter," I said to him, slightly surprised at his dramatics, "They don't hate you because you're acting like yourself. By the sound of things, they're just worried because for no apparent reason you've suddenly stopped doing a whole bunch of things you always used to do. If one of my friends just started acting completely differently without telling me why, I'd be really worried too. They need to understand why you've changed so much."

"Then how do I get them to understand?" He questioned.

"There's really no way around it," I started, "You have to tell them the truth."

Potter didn't say anything for a while. Honestly I wasn't too happy with the idea of Potter telling his friends the truth. Not because it wasn't definitely the right thing to do, but because if his friends knew everything, Potter would have no reason to talk to me anymore. I've kind of grown to like talking to Potter. I didn't really want it to stop.

"I suppose you're right," Potter said finally. Unfortunately, I probably was. "Thanks for the advice. Again."

"Anytime, Potter," I replied.

"You can call me James," he said with a shy smile, "You know, if you want to."

"Okay," I said with a smile of my own in return.

"And umm…" he trailed off, "You never actually told me your name."

"You never asked," I explained.

"Now I am," he affirmed.

"Danielle Finnegan," I stated, "But my friends call me Dani."

"Well then," he began as he got up and helped me up after him, "Thank you for everything, Dani."

"You're welcome, James," I responded. Then we went our separate ways.

~o0o~


	5. Sound or Silence

**Chapter 5: Sound or Silence**

The day after the full moon, I was heading down to breakfast like it was any other day. But I would soon find out it wasn't. I winced at the noise when I entered the Great Hall. My full moon headache was at its worst but I knew it should be gone by the end of the day. I hadn't slept at all last night. I can never get to sleep during the full moon. I probably looked horrible.

That thought was only confirmed when I sat down at the Hufflepuff table. "Geez, who fed you after midnight?" Millie immediately asked, "You look awful." She had actually given Jess her spot back and was sitting next to me now. Jess snorted in amusement at Millie's comment but I was just confused.

"What does that even mean?" I asked tiredly.  
"Oh come on!" Millie exclaimed, "You haven't seen Gremlins? It's a classic."

"Muggle-born?" Jess asked her.

"Half-blood," she corrected, "But I like to keep up to date with all the best muggle films."

"Uh huh," I mumbled. It's so frustrating when people reference all these muggle things that I know nothing about and I just don't have the energy for it today.

At that moment the post arrived and I received my copy of the Daily Prophet. All of my exhaustion immediately went to the back of my mind as I read the front page. There had been seven killings last night. Seven. They were calling it a mass attack. I quickly noticed that all of the victims were people who had been scratched or children of werewolves. In other words they were all just part werewolf. Sadly, it made sense. Attacking a werewolf on the full moon would be idiotic, however, part werewolves were usually more vulnerable during the full moon due to splitting headaches.

What's worse is I knew all of these people quite well. Then there was the seventh victim. Candace Harding. Her mum fell in love with a werewolf and had three children with him but he was terrified of hurting them so one day he just up and left. Her mum went to my mum for support and they quickly became very close. Candace and her younger twin siblings practically lived at our house. They were like the brother and sisters I never had. Candace had only just graduated Hogwarts last year. Now she was dead.

I stared at the newspaper in shock. None of the deaths had hit me that hard yet. I hadn't known any of the victims very well until now. I looked up and sought out Candace's younger siblings at the Slytherin table. They were twins named John and Phillipa and were in their third year. I spotted them staring at their plates. Their friends were looking at them worriedly, much like mine were at me right now, and they looked completely miserable. I knew they needed me right now. Their older sister was gone and I was the next best thing.

I didn't think about anyone who suddenly stared at me as I jerked to my feet and walked over to the Slytherin table. I stopped when I was behind the twins and they looked up at me sorrowfully. I didn't need to say anything to prompt them to come with me. Phillipa was soon crying into my right side while I held John with a left armed hug. That is how I lead them silently out of the Great Hall.

Once we were alone, John burst into tears as well. I just clung to the both of them, feeling numb. What should I do? Do I say everything is going to be okay? Would everything be okay? That's when I realised it probably wouldn't. More and more people were dying every week. There was no stoping these monsters, these _Hunters_. No one had even come close to catching one. No one still alive had so much as seen any of them. From where I was sitting with the two sobbing thirteen-year-olds, things were looking like they most certainly wouldn't be okay. I'm not usually one to cry or get angry but right now I had the strongest urge to just burst into tears.

I gave myself a mental slap. I couldn't think about all that now. The twins needed me to…Oh, I don't know! For the first time in a very long time I don't know what to do. I had always been good at cheering people up and giving them advice. But right now I was completely at a loss. What do you say to people, no not people, _children_ who've just lost their elder sister. I don't fucking know! Why don't I know?! I need to know. But I don't. I can think of nothing to say.

Or maybe that's just it. Nothing. I don't need to say anything at all because words can only convey so much. As they say: actions speak louder than words. I don't need to make a sound. So I just held the two Slytherins. I held them as they cried silently. I stroked their hair and hugged them close. There were no sounds made. There were no words exchanged. None of that was needed.

~o0o~

A week had passed. Jess had finally carved the heating runes into my bed and they actually worked. Every morning my bed got uncomfortably hot and woke me right up. She was already on the lookout for a new challenge. It was now Halloween and the first Hogsmeade trip of the year was tomorrow. It was on this day that I was approached by one Louis Weasley. I was quite confused. I had never interacted with him previously but he was kind of well known. Obviously since he was a Weasley he was another one of James' cousins. He was blond, which is a rarity among the Weasleys, as well as a Slytherin.

I had just been in the library attempting some new spells. Of course, I had been kicked out when I accidentally set fire to the table while attempting a charm. You'd be surprised how much that happens. At first I thought he wanted to talk to me about James. What else would he want to talk to me about? He also didn't give me any hints as to what he could want. He simply asked if he could talk to me then pulled me into an empty classroom without waiting for an answer. What is it with boys thinking they can just pull me places? Do I look like a trolly? Not that I really minded when James did it.

"Hi," Louis Weasley said nervously. Now that was weird. From what I'd seen of the boy he was always completely confident. Probably came with being unnaturally good looking because of the Veela blood. He was only one eighth Veela but it seemed to be more than enough to make him undeniably handsome.

"Hello," I replied when it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything else. He shuffled on his feet a bit.

"Well umm," he started, "I'm Louis and well…Sorry about pulling you in here, it probably wasn't the best way to start a conversation with you…"

"Happens all the time," I admitted, only half joking, "Was there something you wanted?"

"Yes, I really need your help," he told me. He seemed to have relaxed a little now. I tilted my head curiously.

"Did James recommend me or something?" I asked with an amused smile.

"No, no. I'm not sure if Millie mentioned me," he replied. Millie? How did Louis know Millie? "But I—Hold on, what was that about James? As in my cousin James?" So this had nothing to do with James? Oops.

"What? Oh nothing," I said as convincingly as I could, "What was that about Millie?"

"Wait a minute! You're her, aren't you?" He asked with a grin, "You must be!"

"Her?" I questioned in confusion. Was James talking about me?

"The girl James is always thinking about," he explained, "He denies it, but we can all tell that's what he's doing when he zones out. At first we just though it was Simons but he keeps glancing over at one of the other house tables and he hasn't even asked her out in weeks. So are you the girl then?"

"No, of course not," I told him. There's no way James is thinking about me. Right? "Sure I know him but…well you know."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. I might have been a little disappointed too, honestly. For some reason the idea of James thinking about me appealed.

"So, what was that about Millie?" I repeated.

"Oh right," he said, "Well we used to go out, you see. But…"

"You mean, you're him?" I asked slightly angrily as I caught on, "You're her ex-boyfriend."

"Yes, I need your help," he said quickly, "I—"

"No," I snapped, giving him a glare. I knew it probably didn't look very intimidating though. I was never very good at glaring at people. Steve says it just looks like I'm squinting. I've never really cared much because I haven't needed to be able to glare a lot. However, right now I wished I could do one of those really scary death stares. He deserves it. This was the guy who cheated on Millie!

"Please," he begged, "You've got to help me get her back!" Usually I would have at least heard him out, I don't usually say no to people who ask for my help, but this was completely different.

"You don't deserve my help," I said firmly before turning to leave.

"No please," he said as I approached the door, "I love her!" My hand paused on the door handle and I spun around to face him.

"Well perhaps you should have thought about that before you cheated on her," I said.

"But I didn't cheat on her!" he exclaimed as he flung his arms up in frustration. What? He _didn't_ cheat on her?

"Then why does Millie seem to think you did?" I asked in a slightly softer tone as I took a few steps towards him and away from the door.

"That's a bit complicated," he sighed as he seated himself in an empty chair.

"I have time," I said as I pulled another chair to the spot across from him and sat down. This earned me a small smile in return. I've noticed people tend to feel more open to talking to me when we're both sitting down.

"Well what has Millie told you?" he questioned, "Has she mentioned Georgia?" I just shook my head and he continued. "Well the three of us—Georgia, Millie, and I—were best friends. We met on the train in first year, you know, like most people do. Even when I was sorted into Slytherin, Millie to Gryffindor, and Georgia to Ravenclaw, we were pretty much inseparable."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Millie and I started crushing on each other around third year," he said, "What I didn't know at the time was that Georgia fancied me as well. I'd always seen her as more of a sister and I didn't even consider that she would see me as anything other than a good friend. Then Millie and I finally started dating last summer, so Georgia got kind of jealous." He paused to sigh sadly.

"A few weeks back Georgia came onto me and I told her no," he continued, "She got mad and told Millie that I had grabbed her and kissed her because I had always been in love with her. Millie believed her because she didn't think Georgia would lie to her like that. I tried to tell her the truth but she wouldn't listen. Maybe if I had been patient I would have gotten through to her eventually. But I was never very good at patience. I lost my temper and said…some things that I really shouldn't have said. I completely blew it."

"What did you say?" I said curiously.

"It was really bad," he hesitated.

"Just tell me," I urged.

"I told her to stop being such a stubborn bitch and just listen to me," he admitted shamefully.

"Oh you didn't," I denied in the hope that he was joking.

"I did," he winced.

"Do you have any idea how bad that it?" I exclaimed, "Not just in general, but to Millie in particular."

"Of course I do," he all but yelled angrily. But he wasn't angry at me. I could see that he was angry at himself. "Millie hates that stupid word and I was a total prat for calling her that. I royally fucked things up, I know."

"Yep," I added unhelpfully.

"So you'll help me, right?" he said hopefully.

"If you can answer a question for me," I told him. He may not have cheated on Millie but he did call her a bitch. I understand why he was frustrated, but still. I needed to be sure of something first.

"Yeah, what?" he asked.

"Earlier you said you loved Millie. What do you love about her?" I questioned. I wanted to know how he truly felt about her.

"Well you know," he mumbled uncertainly, "She's smart, funny, and beautiful."

"Oh come on," I protested, "You can do better than that. A lot of girls can be described like that, it's such a general description. Try again."

"I don't know," he sighed in frustration, "I guess…I love a lot about her. I love that she's not afraid to say whatever's on her mind. I love how she has such a caring heart. I love that she's so frustratingly stubborn and opinionated. I love the way she has a snappy comeback for every situation. I love that adorably cheeky smile she does when she teases me. Actually, I love all her smiles. And I love that when you get to know her she's actually one of the sweetest most selfless people you will ever meet. I just love _her_."

"Now _that_ was a good answer," I said with a small smile.

"So you'll help me then?" he said hopefully.

"Definitely," I agreed.

"Yes!" he burst out happily and gave me a huge grin, "Thank you."

"So what do you want me to do?" I enquired.

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem," he admitted, "I have no idea what to do. There is no way she'll listen to anything I have to say and even if you told her, she'd probably still be too stubborn to believe you."

"I can see how that would be a problem," I mumbled as I tried to think of a way around it. I wish I was Jess right now, she's great at problem solving. Things kind of tend to blow up in my face. Both figuratively and literally.

"Yep," he confirmed.

"I think I may have an idea," I said nervously and I did have an idea. I just wasn't sure if it was a good one.

~o0o~


	6. Safe or Dangerous

**Chapter 6: Safe or Dangerous**

I really _really_ should not be here right now. Oh Merlin, this was such a bad idea. Which isn't such a surprise considering it was my idea in the first place. At this point you may be wondering where I actually am. Well even if you're not I'm going to tell you. I am at Hogsmeade. Yes, the place my dad told me explicitly not to go to in the letter he sent me. That place.

And he's right too. It is a little dangerous to be here. But if I stay with other people I should be safe, right? No one has ever seen the Hunters and lived so I'm pretty sure they're not going to attack me in the middle of Hogsmeade Village. It's actually my dad's wrath that I'm more afraid of at the moment. If he found out I deliberately disobeyed him and put my life in danger he would be so angry. And my dad is not the angry type.

But I have a good reason, honest. I have to help Louis get Millie back. It was pretty obvious that Millie was far too stubborn to simply be told the truth so I'd come up with a plan. Unfortunately, that plan required my presence in Hogsmeade because I needed to make sure Millie was in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. I just hope everything goes as planned.

At the moment I was walking through the village with Millie. It was almost time. I had convinced Jess and Steve to go off to the Three Broomsticks so it was just Millie and I. The alley where Louis and I had agreed the plan would take place was just coming up on my right. Now it was time. With a small yelp I pretended to trip just next to the alley's entrance and Millie stopped beside me to help me up.

"Tell Millie the truth!" Louis' irritated voice floated out of the alley and Millie's head immediately shot up in surprise, "You tried to kiss me, not the other way around."

"Why does it matter?" a girl who I assumed was Georgia said, "She believed that ridiculous story about you cheating on her. That obviously means she didn't trust you. You're better off without her and now we can be together." Millie's eyes widened as she realised what this meant.

"I don't like you like that, Georgia," Louis raised his voice in frustration, "I've never liked you like that. You were like a sister to me, but not anymore. I love Millie and you ruined that for me."

"That bitch doesn't deserve you!" the girl shrieked, "I did it so we could be together."

"She's not a bitch!" he yelled at her.

Millie finally snapped out of her shock, stood up and stormed into the alley. Looks like the plan was working. I had realised that for Millie to accept the truth she needed to hear it from the original liar herself. I just had to get Millie to a place where she would hear when Louis confronted Georgia about it. Did I feel bad that the plan was kind of manipulative? Very. Would Millie be absolutely furious if she found out? Definitely. But was it worth it? Completely. Millie deserved to be happy and Louis could help with that.

I quickly followed Millie into the alley. "You lying cow!" Millie shouted furiously at Georgia.

"I-I-I didn't…I-I thought…I…" Georgia stammered, unable to form words in her surprise at seeing Millie appear so suddenly. Not knowing what to do the girl just squeaked and ran away leaving Millie, Louis, and I alone in the alley.

"Millie," Louis addressed her taking a few steps closer to us, "I'm so sorry about what I said before. I didn't mean to call you a bitch. I was just frustrated. You're not a bitch and even if I was losing my patience it wasn't right for me to say you were."

"No, I'm sorry," Millie said quickly, "I should have believed you."

And before I knew it they were kissing heatedly. Well this got awkward very fast. I hastily backed out of the alley to give them their privacy. I then ambled aimlessly around Hogsmeade not really knowing what to do with myself now that my friends were off in other places. Maybe I should head back to Hogwarts seeing as I have no further reason to be here and it could still be dangerous. But I'd be safe if I stayed where people could see me, right?

All of a sudden I felt a sense of calm come over me. The world around me faded out as I took in the content feeling. I hadn't felt this good in such a long time. _Walk into the forest._ My feet were soon moving as I snaked around various Hogwarts students, not really caring who they were. "Dani!" I vaguely registered someone exclaim but I didn't feel like looking to see who it was as I passed them. "Dani!" The person repeated and I almost stopped. _Ignore him. Keep walking._ So I kept walking and the voice quickly became too hazy in my mind for me to make it out.

Soon I was deep in the forest. Then the haze that had been clouding my mind was gone and I was left with the disturbing truth that the new clarity granted me. I had just been put under the Imperius Curse. Worse yet, now I was completely alone in the middle of the forest. Shit. I pulled out my wand and looked around franticly to find whoever cursed me. He must be around here somewhere.

I finally saw a cloaked figure emerge from between the trees. He had a piece of string around his neck with a little block of wood attached to it. Carved into the block of wood were the Roman numerals II. His face was hidden by the hood of the cloak but the wand pointed directly at me was in full view. I got almost no warning before dozens of spells were being flung at me. Not knowing what to do I dove behind a large rock in the hope that I would be able to buy myself some time. And it did buy me some time. Unfortunately, 'some time' turned out to be less than thirty seconds.

However, it was just enough time to gather my thoughts before he blew the rock apart, sending me flying backwards. I was momentarily stunned from the impact with the ground and I was definitely winded. Luckily, I quickly came to my senses and rolled to the right just in time to avoid a spell before getting to my feet and sending a stunner at him. Soon we were locked in an intense duel and it was clear to the both of us that I was loosing. Badly.

It was obvious that I was very out matched. I knew he was the better fighter and the only way I would be able to come out of this unscathed was if I somehow outsmarted him. Think, think, think. Yeah, chanting 'think' in your head doesn't actually help you think. Who knew? Merlin, what is wrong with me? Focus or you're going to die! Then I got an idea. Yep, those ridiculously unhelpful thoughts actually lead to an idea. I'm surprised too.

First, I cast the water making charm, Aguamenti, at his feet. He glanced down at his wet shoes in confusion before I cast the most powerful cooling charm I knew and smiled as his shoes and feet froze to the ground. Finally, while he was in the process of unfreezing his feet with a heating charm I aimed a strong cutting charm at the tree to his left and it fell right at him.

To my disappointment he easily deflected the tree and finished unfreezing his legs. Yeah, I'm not very good at coming up with smart ideas that'll work on short notice. Fuck, I am so dead. I have been swearing way too much lately. The cloaked figure mumbled a spell that I had never heard before and suddenly the most awful noise I had ever heard in my life emitted from his wand. I couldn't stop the pained scream that left my mouth as I collapsed to my knees. My hands were at my ears in an attempt to get rid of the terrible sound but it made little difference.

You know that feeling when you're on a landing plane and you're ears start to hurt from the pressure. It felt kind of like that but so _so_ much worse. For a sick moment I actually thought someone had stuck some tweezers in my ears and were trying to rip out my brain on both sides. And I thought full moon headaches were bad. They don't even come close to what I'm feeling right now.

"DANI!" I heard an alarmed yell. Suddenly the noise stopped but the agony was still there. I breathed out deeply as the pain finally started to fade away. I lifted my head and opened my eyes. I hadn't even noticed I had squeezed them shut from the pain until I had to open them. James was kneeling right in front of me with an extremely concerned look on his face. All that was left of my previous suffering was a dull headache so I slowly removed my hands from my ears. James immediately looked quite alarmed and it wasn't hard to see why. There was blood on my hands. Blood coming from my ears. My ears were bleeding. Just like all the bodies found after they had been killed by the Hunters. It probably wasn't very hard to figure out who had just attacked me.

I looked around but the cloaked figure was gone. "Dani," James said worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I murmured uncertainly before repeating it with a bit more conviction, "Yeah, I'm alright." I got to my feet and somehow managed to stay upright despite the wave of weakness that washed over me. James stood and gently but firmly grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Who was that?" He asked with a frown.

"I think you know," I replied and he nodded. There was a long pause. "James, I need you to promise me that you won't say anything to anyone about what just happened."

"But—" he protested.

"Please," I cut in firmly, "Promise me."

"Fine," he gave in, "I promise."

"Thank you," I sighed before I suddenly wondered something, "How did you know I needed help?"

"I knew something was wrong when you walked past," he began to explain, "You looked right at me but it was like you didn't even see me. Then I remembered what my dad had told me about the Imperius Curse and it seemed to fit so I followed you into the forest. I couldn't find you at first but then I heard…I heard you screaming." I looked down at the memory of the terrible sound. Lifting my hand to my ear I was relieved to feel it had stopped bleeding and the blood was already starting to dry.

He gently lifted my chin with his fingers and looked searchingly into my eyes. "Are you really alright?" he asked knowingly.

"No," I said honestly, not really knowing how James could get me to admit it, "I almost died, James. You just saved my life." The truth of the words hit me hard as I said them.

"But why did he just run away like that?" James wondered with a confused frown, "When I showed up he just muttered something about a hunter base and disappeared. As much as I hate to admit it, he probably could have taken me. I'm only a fifth year."

"That's not what he was worried about," I realised aloud, "The Hu—" I stopped as I realised the official name for them hadn't been in the papers, and I only knew it because my dad had told me, "The murderers have been actively avoiding causing an uproar. That's why they started with adults that had little friends and family. Eventually they'll be going for war heroes, their children, and other well known people. But they've put them at the end of the list because if they had killed someone well known and liked too soon, the Ministry would have been trying a whole lot harder to catch them.

"That's why they're probably saving Teddy until last," I was mostly thinking out loud now. "They know that if they went after someone close to Harry Potter everyone would be furiously trying to catch them in a matter of seconds. Same with if they killed you just now. They don't want to piss off anybody too important yet."

"Teddy?" James demanded. "As in my god brother? What does he have to do with all this? Hell, what do you have to do with all of this?! Tell me what's going on!"

"I…There's…It's none of your business!" I told him defensively. I can't tell James anything. My parents would be furious. My parents! Oh no. When they find out I went to Hogsmeade and got attacked they'll be so angry with me.

"It just became my business," he argued, "Tell me what's happening!"

"Look," I said hastily, "I'm grateful you were here to stop that guy from killing me, but apart from that you have nothing to do with this."

"But—" he began but I cut him off before he could continue.

"No! Just don't tell anyone and leave me alone!" I said firmly before I turned and ran off as fast as I could. I needed to get out of there.

I ran all the way back to Hogwarts. It's pretty amazing when you think about it but I was still a bit high on adrenaline and I needed to get away from James. Honestly, I felt very guilty for yelling at him like that. But he really shouldn't get involved with something like this. It's obviously very dangerous. I let my hair out of it's ponytail as I approached the castle in order to hide the dried blood around my ears. You could still see the blood on my shirt but it wasn't conspicuous enough for someone to ask about. I managed to get back to my dormitory unnoticed and I went straight to the shower to wash all the blood off myself.

Once I got out of the shower I checked the time and saw that dinner was still a few hours away. I really didn't feel like waiting for it though. I was tired and definitely not in the mood for social interaction. In the end, I decided to just go to bed early. I'll deal with everything in the morning.

~o0o~


	7. Confess or Deny

**Chapter 7: Confess or Deny**

The morning after the attack at Hogsmeade, I reluctantly headed down to the great hall for breakfast. I didn't feel up to facing the world this morning, however, I'd done it around full moons and I could do it today. As I walked I thought about what I should say to my parents. Should I say anything at all? What would telling them I was attacked really accomplish apart from making them very concerned for me? Oh, I'll worry about it later.

With a start I realised I was already in the great hall and standing next to the Hufflepuff table. It's funny how sometimes you can be so deep in thought that you don't even notice you're walking places. My friends were already sitting down and I joined them in my usual spot. I absentmindedly exchanged greetings with them and I was so deep in my own little world that it took me almost a whole minute to realise that Louis was sitting with us on the other side of Millie.

"Hey, where were you yesterday?" Millie asked curiously, "You weren't at dinner last night and you totally ditched me in Hogsmeade. I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Sorry," I apologised quickly, "You looked pretty busy snogging Louis and I was tired so I just went back to the castle and hopped straight into bed." That's mostly true. I just missed out a few details.

"Oh," she accepted my answer with a nod, "Well can you give me a heads up next time. I spent a whole hour looking around for you."

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," I said, feeling guiltily.

"You apologise too much," she told me with a small smile, which I took to mean she forgave me.

Soon the morning paper arrived and I was happy to see no more attacks had been reported. So the Hunters had only gone after me yesterday and since it wasn't in the Daily Prophet it was reasonably safe to assume no one except the Hunters, James, and I knew about it. The paper also included some new information the Ministry was letting the public know about. It went into more details about the similarities between the murders. Nothing about werewolves but it did say that necklaces with little wooden blocks that had Roman numerals carved into them had been put on the victims.

There were five different types of necklaces with different numbers on them. The Roman numerals for one to five had been found carved into various necklaces. I recalled the cloaked figure that attacked me had been wearing the Roman numeral for two around his neck. Perhaps it was a way of being able to mark which hunter killed each person. Meaning that there could be five different hunters and they each had a number assigned to them that they used.

I was shaken from my thoughts by someone clearing their throat and I looked up from the paper to see James standing beside me. "Can we talk, Dani?" he asked nervously. Whispering broke out around us and I saw lots of curious people watching us shamelessly. James tended to draw attention to himself due to his status as son of the Chosen One.

"We have nothing to talk about," I reputed quite rudely. James can't get involved in this.

"Dani," James sighed exasperatedly, "We need to talk about what happened yesterday." I could feel my friends curious stares but I didn't take my eyes of James.

"I think I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to talk about it when I ran away, " I said pointedly. I was being so mean to him and I honestly hated how guilty I was feeling right now.

"Damn it, Dani!" He growled in frustration, "Don't be like this. Just talk to me, please!"

"Oh, I totally knew it," Louis exclaimed triumphantly, "You _are_ the girl!"

"I'm not the girl!" I denied firmly. Although, I could see how this could seem a little like a lovers spat from an outsiders point of view.

"Please, Dani," James continued.

"Just leave me alone, James," I said impatiently as I got to my feet.

"Dani—" he tried.

"No," I snapped. "I don't _want_ to talk to you!" I then quickly started heading towards the exit.

"So that's it then?" He said angrily to my retreating form. "You're just going to run away again?!" I paused and turned to face him. The hall was completely silent as they all observed the argument.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I told him, "My life isn't any concern of yours, James. Just stay out of it." And with those harsh words I left. Yeah, I was being awful but James really shouldn't get involved in the mess that has become my life. It's dangerous. If I refuse to talk and deny everything, maybe he'll just give up.

~o0o~

Seeing as it was Sunday and there were no classes, I ended up going to the Library. I had research to do anyway. I needed to find out more about the spell that made that horrible sound. I knew it was important. From what I could gather, it seems that the Hunters had been using the spell to render all the werewolves helpless so it was easy to kill them. I'm pretty sure only people with enhanced senses can actually hear the awful sound so it's perfect to harm werewolves and those of the like. It only seems more dangerous when you think about the fact that, while you can dodge or block regular spells, you can't just deflect a sound.

Unfortunately, I didn't find a single thing on the mysterious spell. There was absolutely nothing about it anywhere I looked in the School Library. I tried various spell books and texts on werewolf defences but there was no mention of it. That left three probable possibilities: the spell was too dark or dangerous to be in a School Library, it was an unknown spell the Hunters had invented themselves, or I simply hadn't found the right book yet. Well whatever the case, I was going to keep looking.

Not only did I want to find information on the spell, but I also wanted to see if I could find a defence against it. Some sort of sound blocking shield charm or a spell that would give a werewolf normal human hearing. I wasn't going to stop until I found some form of solution.

~o0o~

"There you are!" I looked up and saw my friends approaching me. "We've been looking for you all day!" Steve continued. "You weren't at lunch."

"There's more to life than mealtimes, Steve!" I snapped irritably. Can't they see I'm busy. My friends looked absolutely shocked. Then I realised what I had just said and immediately felt incredibly guilty. "I'm sorry. I'm just in the middle of something. You caught me at a bad time."

"Well err," Jess began, "It's dinner time."

"Oh," I said sheepishly. "I must have lost track of time."

I stood up and put the books I had been reading away before following my friends down to the Great Hall for dinner. What's wrong with me? First James now my friends. I never usually snap at people. I guess I'm just stressed. I need to stop being so mean to people. I can't let anything that's happening affect my friendships. Of course it won't matter if I get murdered…

I checked the house points counter as we entered the Great Hall and was pleased to see Hufflepuff firmly in the lead by at least one hundred points. After everything I had almost forgotten about the little revolution I had started in Hufflepuff. But then again, it was kind of hard to forget when various Hufflepuffs came up to me to ask about things concerning it. I'm starting to believe I had bitten off more than I could chew.

Sure we seem to be doing pretty well right now, but what would happen if we failed. The Hufflepuffs would be crushed. The first Quidditch match was in three weeks and I can only imagine the pressure Steve is under. If we don't win the match the entire house would be so disappointed. Or worse. What happens if we succeed in winning both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup and we still don't get any respect. What if it all turned out to be for nothing. Everyone would hate me.

"Dani?" Millie said. I looked up and saw all my friends looking at me. We were already sitting at the table and I found food on my plate. I must have gone into auto-pilot again (we had learnt about planes in muggle studies).

"Sorry, what?" I asked with embarrassment.

"She was just asking about that argument you had at breakfast with James Potter," Jess told me, "I didn't even know you knew Potter."

"Oh, I don't," I lied, "That wasn't at all what it looked like." She shot me a completely disbelieving look.

"Then what was it about," she questioned.

"Nothing," I denied, "It wasn't about anything."

"Right," Millie agreed sarcastically, "It sure sounded like absolutely nothing."

"Can we just not talk about it?" I begged desperately. They must have seen how uncomfortable I was because they mercifully dropped the subject. Unfortunately, I knew they wouldn't be able to reign in their curiosity forever.

As soon as I finished with dinner, I said goodbye and started to go directly back to the Library. My friends were confused by my behaviour but they kindly decided not to comment on it. They were all busy with their own things anyway. I was almost there when I was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into a classroom. I hardly needed to look to know it was James.

"You really need to stop doing that," I mumbled as I crossed my arms and shot him an annoyed look.

"Well, I needed to get you alone," he justified, not looking the least bit apologetic.

"Can we not do this now?" I sighed. Or ever. I briefly considered making a break for it.

"I know you said you didn't want to talk to me," he said, and he must have seen me eyeing up the door as he not so subtly moved to block the only exit, "But I think I deserve an explanation."

"Why?" I demanded, "It has nothing to do with you. This is my problem and mine alone."

I didn't even care that he was blocking the door. I ran forward and darted around him. I was so close to making it too, but I was foiled by his arms quickly closing around my waist and him literally carrying me back into the room.

"It doesn't have to be," he suggested as he put me down but kept a firm hold on both my wrists, "I shared my problems with you. Why won't you return the favour?"

"That's different," I protested while trying to struggle out of his hold, "This isn't some little problem that can be talked away." It was no use, the boy was very strong. Yet another reason not to like Quidditch. It makes people too strong as well as being too violent.

He finally got annoyed with my attempts to shake off his grip on me and just backed me into a wall, using it to pin my arms in place. Well he sure is persistent. "All the more reason to ask for help," he said. That's when I decided to tell him the truth. But it wasn't his words that changed my mind. What really convinced me was his expression. He just seemed so full of…care. I could tell he wasn't talking to me out of curiosity or because he was looking for an adventure. He was genuinely concerned for me. For some reason James Potter actually cared about me. And there was also the fact that he had me pinned to the wall so there wasn't much I could do at this point. I sighed and stopped struggling. He must have seen the decision on my face because he released me and took a small step back. I sat down against the wall and he set himself down next to me.

"Well you know about the murders right?" I began. His face brightened as he realised I was really going to tell him and he nodded. "What you may not know is that the murderers are actually targeting werewolves and part werewolves."

"Part werewolves?" He questioned.

"People who have just been scratched instead of bitten or children of werewolves," I explained.

"You were attacked so which are you?" he asked.

"My mother is a werewolf," I confessed, "That makes me a part werewolf like Teddy. My father told me not to go to Hogsmeade. He said it was dangerous, but I went anyway. I was stupid. You know what happened next."

"Why were your ears bleeding?" he queried, "What did the guy do to you?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet," I replied honestly, "I've been looking in the Library trying to find the spell. It created some sort of sound that I assume only people with inhuman senses can hear. It was the most horrible thing I've ever heard. I think that the murderers have been using in to stop the werewolves from putting up much of a fight while they kill them. My ears are fine now so I don't think the spell itself has any lasting effects. However, I think you got there just in time to prevent…well, you know."

"You sure you're okay?" He said to make sure.

"Yeah," I told him truthfully, "Just a bit shaken up. It's not really me I'm worried about anymore. As long as I stay in Hogwarts they shouldn't be able to get to me. But my mum, Teddy, and all the others. They're in so much danger." James moved closer and put a comforting arm around me.

"They'll be alright," he murmured.

"I sure hope so," I said, looking down with a frown.

"The murderers can't avoid being caught forever," he spoke softly to me, "My dad and the other Aurors will catch them eventually."

"But will they do it before it's too late?" I worried, "So many have already died. People I knew. Good people." He didn't say anything at first. He just continued to hold me.

"Albus Dumbledore once said: 'To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.' I prefer to think about it like that," he finally said.

"Thanks, James," I said as I gave him a sad smile, "You're actually pretty good at this, you know…Apart from the whole ambushing me in the hallway and pinning me to the wall part." To my great satisfaction, my comment was rewarded with the most spectacular blush I've ever seen grace the face of James Potter. Although, I'm not sure if it was because of the compliment or because it's finally hit him that he actually pinned me against the wall in his effort to get me to confess what I knew. It was probably the second one.

~o0o~


	8. Success or Failure

**Chapter** **8: Success or Failure**

It was now mid-November and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch match was at the end of the week. Steve was frighteningly close to flipping out, but on the bright side, he was now too distracted to tease me about James Potter. Unfortunately, everyone else wasn't. The most believed rumour about the display in the Great Hall a few weeks ago was that James and I had been secretly dating for months, but we had a huge fight because he had forgotten our anniversary.

It was pretty far from the truth but it could be worse. At least only a few people believed the rumour that James had gotten me pregnant. One way or another, all the rumours involved James and I being romantically involved, which obviously isn't true. If people thought I was dating any other person I doubt many would care but since it's James Potter, son of the Chosen One, almost everyone seems to care.

Not only are people saying it's weird that James is dating a Hufflepuff, but there are also heated debates about the colour of my hair at least once a day. Apparently, the fact that I'm not a red-head is the most peculiar thing in the world. Some people are arguing that I'm sort of a red-head because my hair is kind of light-reddish-brown. Others are saying it's dark blond, and thus, not red at all. Honestly, I'd never considered my hair anything else but light brown.

The whole discussion has really opened my eyes…to how utterly desperate wizard teenagers are for something to entertain themselves in the absence of muggle technology. I may not be a muggle born, but even I know how awesome computers and the internet are.

Anyway, I've tried to tell people that I am not, nor have I ever been, dating James. However, no one seems to care that both James and I have denied it. They insist on continuing to carry on the whole thing. I suppose James and I haven't been helping negate the rumours with all the research we've been doing together in the library. James is helping me look for the spell that affects werewolves' hearing. So far we haven't had much luck but there is no way I'm giving up any time soon.

A few days after the Hogsmeade trip I had gotten a letter from Teddy about Candace's death, asking how I was. I knew he was quite torn up about it and he had sworn in the letter that the Hunters would be caught. I was still having trouble accepting that Candace was really dead. It's like I would forget about it then suddenly remember and it would all come crashing down on me. It was hard to accept that someone you'd known your whole life was suddenly not there anymore. Just like that. Hardly any warning. No proper goodbye. Nothing. Gone.

I'd spoken to the twins as much as possible about their older sister. We were helping each other deal as best we could. They seemed to be doing better and they had lots of friends who were helping them get through it.

Louis had now become a regular part of the gang, and almost always sat with us at the Hufflepuff table. I was surprised when I learned he had actually told Millie what we pulled on the Hogsmeade trip. Although, some of that surprise could have been from Millie suddenly walking over and hitting me with a bad stinging hex before giving me a big hug. I took that to be her way of saying that she didn't like what we did but that she was still pleased with the results and that she forgave me…I think.

Since Jess solved the Morning Problem, she was already on the hunt for some new kind of challenge. Ultimately she decided she wanted to come up with something to help with my full moon headaches. I thought that was sweet but silly of her. I really don't think there was any way to help in that department, but I appreciated that she wanted to try.

Right now I was in potions class with her and Steve. This year the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws were paired for potions. Jess and I sat together while Steve was at the table to our right with Keith, the Seeker on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. "This lesson you will be making the Nullus Timor potion," Professor Theodore Nott told us, "Can anyone tell me anything about it?"

Raven, a bookish Hufflepuff, immediately put her hand up along with a few other students. She used to be rather shy, but ever since I started the revolt she's become a lot more confident in her intelligence. Professor Nott indicated for her to speak with a short nod of his head. He was a quiet person, and tended to let his students do the talking. "The Nullus Timor potion, also known as the No Fear Brew, is a complex potion that makes the drinker incapable of feeling fear for a short period of time."

"Five points to Hufflepuff," the professor said before nodding for someone else to talk.

"It is known to be a quick brew, but it is very difficult to make successfully and involves a number of complicated steps," a Ravenclaw spoke up.

"Five points to Ravenclaw," he awarded, "But can anybody tell me why this potion is widely regarded as a fool's solution to fear?"

"It doesn't just make people braver, it eliminates all caution," Raven replied, "When people take it they stop thinking of the consequences of their actions and this usually gets them into all sorts of trouble. It can also work a bit like a babbling potion because drinkers would be unafraid to say whatever they wanted to."

"Very good," he said with a rare smile, "Take another five points to Hufflepuff." Raven beamed happily and I shot her a congratulatory grin over my shoulder. "You'll find the instructions for the potion on page two hundred and fifty seven of your books. And as an extra bonus, the people who manage to brew the potion correctly will get to keep a sample of it on the condition that they don't get into too much trouble." Excited whispers broke out at the prospect of being fearless for an hour or so. "You may begin."

Jess and I flipped to the appropriate page and she went to fetch the ingredients while I set up the work bench. Soon we were chopping and stirring with record precision. Jess and I make a great team when it comes to potions. Jess was good at the theory and I was good at the execution.

It didn't take me long to realise why this potion was supposed to be complicated to make. There weren't many ingredients but the details listed for the preparation were extensive. Things like crumbling the dried foxglove and nightshade petals together by hand but not losing even a spec of the mixture. It's a lot harder than it sounds, trust me.

Jess and I finished the potion about ten minutes before the end of class. The teacher checked it over and told us we had succeeded in brewing the potion correctly. He let us fill a vial each to keep before suggesting one of us test the potion out. He explained that if we only took a few drops the potion would last around five minutes and the more we drunk the longer the effects would last. Jess reluctantly tipped a few drops into her mouth and Steve came over to watch with me.

"Well," I prompted after a long pause, "Do you feel any different?"

"I…," she began but trailed off. She had this excited glint in her eye that I usually associated with her getting an idea in her head.

"Well, did it work?" Steve asked her impatiently.

In an instant Jess had closed the distance between her and Steve, wound her arms around his neck, and planted her lips solidly on his. My eyes widened as Jess continued to kiss Steve for a few more seconds before pulling away. "Yep, it worked," she giggled before skipping out of the room despite there still being five minutes of class left.

Steve looked completely shocked. He hasn't moved an inch since she left. "Whah?" he spluttered comically.

"Great," I sighed sarcastically to no one in particular, "Not only has she left me to clean up our workspace, but I think she also broke Steve. And right before the Hufflepuff verses Ravenclaw Quidditch match too. We'll never win if Steve doesn't remember how to move."

People close enough to hear me let out amused snorts and giggles while Steve finally snapped out of his Jess induced stupor. He grabbed me by the shoulders to get my full attention and said seriously, "That really did happen, right? I didn't just imagine it?"

"It actually happened," I confirmed with an amused smile. He nodded thoughtfully before turning and bolting out of the classroom, probably to go find Jess. Well, I better start packing up our work station then.

~o0o~

I don't know what exactly happened between Jess and Steve after they left the potion's classroom. However, I was well aware of the results; the two of them were now a couple. I had never seen either of them so happy before. It was like they were both floating on some giant fluffy cloud made of…romantic things and…puppies? I started that thought without really knowing how to finish it. You get the idea anyway.

Moving on. The morning of the Ravenclaw verses Hufflepuff Quidditch match had, at long last, finally arrived. All the Hufflepuffs were extremely hyped up, Steve looked like he was going to be sick, Jess couldn't decide whether she wanted to support us or be loyal to her house, and I was just…Well, I didn't know what I was. I should be excited. I wasn't. I was too nervous to be anything but. So much was riding on this one Quidditch match. It could be such a pivotal moment in everything. You may think I'm just being dramatic but I swear I'm not.

If we lose all of Hufflepuff will be so down-hearted. They'll all hate me for getting their hopes up and I'll feel so bad about the whole thing. It'll all be such a disaster. What if I started something that I really can't finish. Everyone in Hufflepuff is looking to me for motivation and I don't know what to tell them. The speech was a spur of the moment thing. I just said what we were all thinking. Anyone could have done it. But anyone didn't do it. I did it and now if the whole thing fails it will all be my fault.

Arrrrhhhhh! I banged my head against the table. "Umm, Dani?" Jess said tentatively, "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," I said quickly as I snapped my head back up, "Why would you think it wasn't?"

I was now faced with everyone close by looking at me with incredulous or worried expressions. I'm sure it's been mentioned before that I'm not a very good liar. "Oh look at the time," I exclaimed in a hopeless bid to fend of their stares, "The Quidditch match is going to start soon. We should get down there."

Soon Jess, Millie, Louis, and I were sitting in the Hufflepuff stands. Jess had opted to support Hufflepuff seeing as she was dating the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain. Millie and Louis were supporting Hufflepuff this time but they made sure it was clear that it was only because Gryffindor or Slytherin weren't playing. I was a bundle of nerves as I waited for the match to start. I'm sure Steve was too.

Gosh, I'd been thinking so much about how bad I would feel if we failed that I'd thought nothing about how Steve would feel. I'm such a bad friend. Steve is under way more pressure than me and here I am being worried about myself. I'm not even playing in the game for crying out loud. I hope he's hanging in there. What if he's so nervous he falls off his broom stick?!

Okay, even _I_ know I'm over-worrying now. I need to get a hold of myself.

"And here comes the Ravenclaw team," the commentator announced as Ravenclaw's Quidditch team flew onto the pitch. He then started naming all the players and their positions before announcing the Hufflepuff team and doing the same for them. My nerves only grew as I waited for the game to finally begin. At last, the balls were released into the air and the players flew off in a frenzy.

I was pleased to see that Steve was the first to grab the Quaffle. He was obviously a chaser, which I forgot to mention before. And minutes later I was even more pleased when he was the first to score in the match. It just kept getting better from there. You could tell Ravenclaw weren't at all prepared for the sudden improvement of the Hufflepuff Team. The element of surprise was definitely an important factor in this game. I can hardly even remember why I was so worried before. The score got as high as 140-30 to Hufflepuff before the snitch was even spotted. Unfortunately we still needed to catch it if we wanted to win the game.

That's one of the main reasons I'm not a huge fan of Quidditch. Who makes six people work incredibly hard to scrounge up points only to make their work completely obsolete by enabling someone to get 150 points in one move. That's actually a common theme with wizard games. Like in the 1994 Triwizard Tournament where the first two challenges only served to give the people with the most points a slight head start. Wizards seem to only care about the last few moments of things. It's so frustrating.

Anyway, Keith, the Hufflepuff Seeker, bought my attention back to the game itself when he suddenly pulled sharply into a dive. Even I was on the edge of my seat as the Ravenclaw Seeker hastily tried to follow. However, Keith had been trained throughly and he was almost upon the snitch. I would know, as Steve often got me to help by chucking golf balls around for Keith to catch. At least I think he called them golf balls. I'm not very involved in muggle sports. I was instantly on my feet, cheering happily as Keith's hand closed around the Snitch only a meter from the ground.

He pulled up just in time to avoid serious injury and everyone bar the Hufflepuffs were left in a shocked silence as the players landed. Not even the commentator could utter a single word in his astonished state. And I really don't blame them. Hufflepuff hadn't won a match since 1993. But that was only because of interfering Dementors.

1993 and 1994 are always thought of in many different ways by Hufflepuffs. Believe it or not I was not the first Hufflepuff to attempt to get us some respect. I am of course referring to Cedric Diggory. He'd come up with the idea to enter the Triwizard Tournament to prove that Hufflepuffs were still a capable house without having to do what I'm doing and break the No-Winning-the-House-Competition tradition. However, when he wasn't the only champion representing Hogwarts so that didn't work. He had also tried to win a Quidditch match the previous year. Then he saw the crushed expression on the Gryffindor Teams' faces and tried to get a rematch but it was too late. Then in the Tournament he…well you probably know what happened. And to make matters worse, people outside of Hufflepuff just remember him as worthy of being a Gryffindor. That's just what happens when you're sorted into Hufflepuff.

There was a rush of noise as the shock wore off and people started enthusiastically discussing Hufflepuff's first win in over a century, excluding 1993 of course. I have a feeling it was going to be talked about a lot for the next few days.

~o0o~


	9. Heated or Chilled

**Chapter 9: Headed or Chilled**

The Christmas Holidays had finally arrived and the Castle was surprisingly less empty than it usually was. Many parents had opted to have their children stay at Hogwarts for safety reasons because they were worried about the recent string of murders. Hogwarts has always been considered one of the safest places in the Wizarding World. Jess, Steve, Millie, and Louis were all staying for the holidays so I would be less alone than I originally thought when my dad sent me the letter asking me to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays.

It had arrived a few weeks after the Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw Quidditch match and mainly consisted of heartfelt apologies from my mum and dad for not being able to spend Christmas with me. This was not the first time I'll be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, as during my third year the full moon had unfortunately corresponded with Christmas, and my parents thought it would be better if I stayed away. The letter also included some heavy praise for my understanding of the situation and my continued avoidance of Hogsmeade. That didn't make me feel incredibly guilty at all. Even Steve would have been able to detect that heavy sarcasm. At least I had a good reason. I needed to help Louis and Millie. Their happiness is important.

There was one other thing in the letter from dad. He had decided it would be a good idea to give me the wizarding version of a panic alarm. That was what Millie had called it anyway. Jess had semi-cynically called it a dog collar with a built in tracking device. In reality it's an enchanted necklace that I can activate in an emergency to call my dad (and an entire auror task force) to wherever I am at the time. That is what my dad said in the letter anyway. While that may seem like a bit…much, I know my dad only gave it to me because he cares and doesn't want anything to happen to me. Plus it does pretty much look like a normal crystal pendent necklace.

Although, I will admit wearing it makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm kind of afraid I might accidentally activate it when there is no emergency and inconvenience a whole bunch of busy aurors. Or even worse, accidentally activate it while I'm in the bathroom or something. Luckily, that seems to be pretty unlikely as to activate it you need to say the word 'periculum' while squeezing the crystal and it will turn red to show it has been activated successfully. It's unlikely that I would accidentally utter the word for danger in Latin, so I think my fears of awkwardly summoning a whole task force of aurors when I don't really need them falls into the category of irrational.

Jess had made no progress on her quest to appease my full moon headaches but I wasn't really expecting any. I like that Jess aims so high but there are some things that people just have to live with. I accepted a long time ago that nothing can be done about full moon related problems. I even tried muggle painkillers one time but that just made me a little numb in the places that didn't already really hurt.

The twins were doing better since Candace's death. They were finally starting to smile and laugh again. I'd been worried about them. Candace didn't weigh on my mind as heavily either. I knew she was probably in a good place. But it was still hard to accept her life being cut short in such an abrupt way. She never got to get married and have children or be in love. In a way it makes me want to experience love even more myself. Like I can do it for her in a way. Or maybe I'm just being silly.

Anyway, I was currently in the Library with James despite it being the Christmas holidays. He's been helping me look for any information about the spell that made my ears bleed. So far we haven't made much progress, but that could be due to the constant interruptions by our friends, one of James' many family members or devoted fangirls. Yes, I kid you not, the guy has fangirls. All the Potter children do, although I think Lily has fanboys. Poor James and Albus are so close to just beating them off with a stick.

Speaking of being interrupted, guess who just walked into the library? "Hello Jess," I tried to sound cheerful as she approached our table but I was honestly a little irritated at the prospect of being interrupted yet again today.

"Remember the good old days when you used to insist _I_ spent too much time in the library," she commented lightly, "Oh, how the tables have turned."

"Well that was before you got a boyfriend," I told her, "Now you just spend all your time snogging him."

"You're one to talk," she teased, glancing at James.

"You know perfectly well James is not my boyfriend and that I have not snogged him once," I corrected.

"So you've been discussing how you want to snog me," James teased with a smirk.

"What?" I gaped, "No!"

"Calm down," He laughed, "I was just joking. Is the idea of snogging me really that unappealing to you?"

"What was it you wanted, Jess?" I asked her, completely ignoring James and trying to keep my mind from wandering curiously to what it would be like to snog him. And curiosity is really all it was.

"Well I figured it was about time someone dragged you guys out of here," she explained.

"We're a little busy right now," I replied stubbornly.

"Please," she exclaimed, "Just come outside and walk around for a bit. Then you can come right back, I swear."

"It is about time we had a break," James said, turning to me expectantly. We only got here an hour ago and it's really chilly outside! Honestly, I'm starting to think it was much easier to search for the spell by myself.

"Fine," I conceded, knowing that if I refused I'd just waste time and end up going anyway.

"Great," she said excitedly as she grabbed my arm and started to drag me out of the library, "Let's go." I let out a surprised yelp as James followed behind with an amused smile on his face.

Before I knew it, I was already being dragged outside into the snow. Jess finally released me when we reached the spot by the lake and I let out a sigh of relief. "I don't know why you felt the need to literally drag me all the way here," I complained, "But I've been outside now so I'm going to head back to the _heated_ libr—Oi!" Someone had just thrown something cold at the back of my head. I am so not in the mood for this. Soon James and I were being pelted by snowballs. "Wha—Ow!" I tried to speak again, only to receive a snowball in the face.

The attack eventually ended and a laughing Steve, Millie, and Louis emerged from behind a small mountain of snow. "So that's how it's going to be then?" James chuckled as he reached down to pick up a snowball of his own, "Well bring it on." He quickly threw his snowball before grabbing me and pulling be behind a snow covered bush. I immediately started to make snowballs as James lobbed some at Louis. What? I'm not just going to let them get away with it. This means war!

Once I'd made a descent amount of snowballs I gathered them up in my arms and got ready to run. "Cover me," I told James, only half joking as I darted out from behind the bush and started nailing my friends with the snowballs. I laughed as I got Steve right in the face but it faded as I realised I was out of snowballs. I bent down and gathered more snow into my hands before backing away from my friends cautiously. I did not like the smirks on their faces as they realised they had me surrounded.  
"Looks like the end of the line," Millie said threateningly as they advanced, snowballs at the ready.

"Dani no!" James exclaimed dramatically, making me laugh as he jumped out from behind the bush. He dodged enemy fire as he made his way over to me, throwing snow back at them on the way.

"What now?" I asked with mock severity as he reached me.

"Err," he mumbled.

"What kind of rescue is this?" I critiqued.

"What happened to beggars can't be choosers?" he replied. I didn't get to answer as the enemy suddenly opened fire and we were throughly bombarded with snow. I suppose it was silly of me to think we could win with two against four. I suppose this is the end! I looked at James and he met my eyes. Well, if I was going to go down, I was going to go down fighting.

James must have been thinking the same thing because soon we were both flinging snowballs back as fast as we could make them. "Sorry," I yelled apologetically as I accidentally hit James.

"Struck down by my own teammate," he proclaimed sadly as he fell to his knees.

"No James," I said, playing along, "It can't end this way!" I got down on my knees beside him and shook him by the shoulders.

Suddenly James mashed a snowball onto my head. I looked up at him in shock. "There," he said decisively, "Now we're even."

"Oh it is so on!" I laughed as I pushed him over into a pile of snow and it immediately turned into a free for all.

It was almost a whole hour later before we were all too tired to continue. We were also absolutely soaking wet, chilled to the bone, and still laughing as we made our way back to the castle.

"I could really use a heating charm right now," Louis commented lightly as we walked.

"You bet," Millie agreed.

"As long as Dani doesn't cast it," Steve joked and he and Jess dissolved into laughter.

"Oi!" I protested, elbowing him in the ribs.

"What's wrong with Dani casting a heating charm?" James asked curiously. That just made them laugh harder.

"Well Dani has a tendency to…how did our charms teacher put it?" Steve began.

"I believe she said Dani's spells were volatile enough to set water on fire," Jess replied.

"So maybe it takes me a few tries to get a spell right," I defended weakly.

"A few tries in which you set everything within a three meter radius aflame," Steve cut in.

"That was one time!" I exclaimed, wincing at the thought of my first attempt at the Caterwauling Charm.

"That was six times," Jess corrected.

"Well I get most spells eventually," I insisted in embarrassment. I couldn't even look at James, Millie, and Louis right now. Some friends Jess and Steve are.

"As long as it isn't Lumos," Steve said, "She's probably the only person on the planet who can make that spell so dangerous. She still can't cast it without blowing up a desk."

"And as Steve mentioned before," Jess added, "Dani casting a heating charm can have some very burn inducing consequences."

"Yeah, yeah," I said with a scowl, "I think they get the idea."

"Come on," Steve grinned, "You know we're only teasing."

"Dani! Steve! Hey!" I heard someone yell. I looked towards the sound and saw Keith, the Hufflepuff Seeker, waving at us eagerly. Steve and I waved back and he went back to talking with his friends.

"Oh that reminds me," Steve said, snapping his fingers, "Keith's been asking about you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Dani, he fancies you," he spelled it out for me.

"What?" I spluttered. This was news to me.

"Oh don't act so surprised," Steve scoffed, "You're like the most popular girl in Hufflepuff. Almost every guy fancies you and everyone looks up to you since you started things this year." I elbowed him in the ribs to get him to shut up because Jess, Millie, Louis, and James didn't know about that.

"Why's that?" Jess asked, "What did Dani start?"

"Well she—" Steve started but I quickly cut in with another elbow to the ribs.

"Steve!" I hissed, "You can't just tell them. It's a house secret."

"Oh come on," Steve protested, "Surely you realise that the whole school is going to find out eventually. If they don't find out they're just going to think the whole thing is a fluke."

"What thing?!" Millie demanded, losing her temper, "What on earth are you talking about?!"

"Sorry, guys," Steve said, "Hufflepuff secret." The others frowned.

"But what did Dani do to get every guy in Hufflepuff to fancy her?" James asked with a frown.

"Nothing!" I said, exasperatedly, "Can we stop talking about it already?" There was a long pause before the conversation finally shifted to other things. Namely how we were all eager to have long warm showers as we were all still soaking wet.

~o0o~

That night I lay awake in my bed. Once we had gotten back to the castle we had gone our separate ways to our different common rooms and I had immediately followed through with my plan to have a long hot shower. After that I had curled myself up on the couch in front of the warm fire in the Common Room until dinner. I couldn't stop thinking about what Steve said regarding Keith, and almost every other Hufflepuff guy, having a crush on me. I'd never really thought about dating before. Sure, I've had a few crushes, but nothing ever came of them and I don't think I like anyone at the moment. I haven't really been thinking about dating recently, all things considered. But now that I'm thinking about it, do I like anyone?

I know I can't say I like Keith back. I just don't know him that well and the idea of dating him doesn't really appeal. For some reason James popped into my head when I though about going on a date. Did I fancy James?…I might. Now that I think about it, he is certainly attractive. He's also very sweet. He kind of reminds me of a puppy actually. He's just so playful and enthusiastic about everything. I like that. And the way he cares about everyone with that huge heart of his. Even the way he gets really dramatic about silly things or gets carried away. He's probably one of the most passionate guys I've ever come across. And when he smiles that goofy smile I just can't help but smile back.

Yep. I had no more doubts. I fancy James Sirius Potter.

~o0o~


	10. Outstanding or Ordinary

**Chapter 10: Outstanding or Ordinary**

I went straight to the library that morning. It was nice to have the break I'd had yesterday, but it had been a waste of time. I'd still made no progress finding anything about the spell that was used nor any way to combat it. Not to mention the full moon is tomorrow. That means the hunters are probably going to pull something. At least the aurors should be ready for it this time. Unfortunately, I do have the usual massive headache. Luckily with Steve's determination to train the Hufflepuff Quidditch team as much as possible, Jess' instance on finding a way to cure a full moon headache, and Louis and Millie celebrating some sort of anniversary, I shouldn't be interrupted this time.

I'd gotten a letter from Teddy this morning asking how things were. We often exchange letters around the full moon because of it being a bit of a painful time for us. It was also nice knowing that he was still doing okay and hadn't been attacked by the Hunters. He had also mentioned some other things in his letter. Apparently the rumours about James and I had breached the walls of Hogwarts and made it to the outside world. Now there were even more people to convince I was dating James.

I was just getting a few books off the shelves to bring to my usual table, when two hands quickly lifted them out of my arms. "Let me get those for you," someone said and I turned to see Fred Weasley II, James' cousin. I just stared at him for a moment.

"Um hi," I finally said.

"And hello to you too, Finnegan," he replied with a grin. I waited for him to say more but he didn't.

"Can I please have my books back?" I ventured questioningly and he just chuckled.

"Why I'm only carrying them for you," he said smoothly, "Just tell me where you want me to put them."

"You can just give them back to me now," I told him anxiously. I didn't really know what he wanted, but the mischievous smile he had on did not bode well for my state of mind. His grin suddenly got larger as he seemed to spot something over my shoulder.

"Well if you insist," he said, "I have to go anyway." With that he let go of the books, letting them fall to the ground, and darted away. Huh. That was kind of odd. I've never even talked to the guy before just now. I bent down to pick up the books he had carelessly dropped. I gathered them into my arms and headed over to the table I usually frequented.

"What are you on about?" I heard James' voice and looked up. I couldn't see him anywhere but I swear that was him.

"You know perfectly well what I'm on about," and that was Weasley, "You've been spending all your time with that girl."

"Her name is Dani," James corrected harshly, "And I'm just helping her out with something." I walked over to the source of the voices and found James and Fred talking behind a bookshelf.

"Oh, I know what's going on," Weasley exclaimed, "You like her, don't you? You, my dear cousin, have a crush on her. And not like the silly game you had going with that redhead. You actually fancy this girl." I blushed deeply. I probably shouldn't be listening to this.

"I-I," James stuttered.

"Come on," Weasley pressed, "Just admit it."

I quickly turned and rushed out of the library. That was clearly a conversation I wasn't supposed to have been listening to. But was it true? Did James fancy me like I fancied him. But I'm so ordinary. There's just no way. Is there? He didn't exactly deny it. But maybe he was about to? Now I kind of wish I had stayed to li—No. Eavesdropping is wrong. I had no right to hear as much as I did. It was obviously a private conversation. Damn! I've left the books I was reading on the table. Well they're probably done talking by now anyway. But what if they're not? But the books! Oh god, I'm turning into Jess. But I need to know the spell! This is a conundrum.

I finally made up my mind and turned back. Luckily when I got back to the my table James was already there and Weasley was nowhere in sight. I sat down next to him with a smile of greeting. "Hey," he acknowledged as I opened up a book and started searching.

We read in silence for a while before I felt eyes on me. I looked up and caught James staring. "What?" I asked curiously.

"It's just…" he trailed off and paused, "You look a little tired. Are you okay?"

"Oh that," I sighed. Should I tell him the truth? That it's because of the full moon tomorrow night. I guess he already knows about the werewolf stuff.

"What's the matter?" he pressed.

"The full moon is tomorrow night," I admitted.

"Ah," he nodded understandingly, "How could I forget? Teddy's always a bit disagreeable around the full moon. Do you get the headaches too?"

"All us half-weres do," I told him. He winced sympathetically. I guess Teddy had explained it all to him. "Don't worry. I'm used to it."

"I've seen Teddy around the full moon. It's not something a person should have to be used to," he said.

"Some things can't be helped," I said with a sad smile, touched by his concern. We fell into a comfortable silence and turned back to the books. Unlike usual though, I couldn't help but be very aware of his presence next to me. I know I fancy him now, but why can't things just go back to normal? I didn't want it to be awkward. All he has to do is sit next to me and I can't even focus on the book directly in front of me. I need to get a grip.

I forced myself to look down at the book and started to read again. It was a book on different plants. I didn't really think it would be helpful but it's good to cover all your bases. I lost my concentration as James shifted slightly next to me. Damn it! I narrowed my eyes and tried harder to focus on the book. Why is this suddenly so hard? "Um Dani?" James said curiously, "Is something wrong or did the book somehow offend you?" It was only then I realised I was kind of glaring at the poor book.

"Sorry," I blushed. "I was just thinking." He gave me a questioning look but, when I didn't elaborate, reluctantly went back to his own. I too continued my silent battle to direct my attention to the words in front of me.

I soon found myself reading the same sentence for the third time. Then I gave myself a mental shake and read it for real. I gasped as what it said finally washed over me. "What?" James asked as I grinned excitedly.

"Check this out," I pushed the book over so it was in between the two of us and we both leaned in to read.

"A plant that causes people to go temporarily deaf," he read aloud.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed in a whisper. We were in the library after all. "That way the spell won't affect people because they won't be able to hear it."

"I suppose that would work," he admitted, "But surely there is a better way to go about this. Going completely deaf for a while isn't exactly practical."

"I suppose you do have a point," I sighed and looked up at him.

"It's okay," he said and brought his head up to face me, "We'll find something else."

We both suddenly noticed how close our faces were. There was only about 10cm between us. We stared at each other for a moment and I felt myself blush. Finally James cleared his throat and backed up slightly. I smiled at him and turned back to my book. It would be nice to find something that would work better than the plant but I figured I'd copy the details down anyway and try to get a hold of some later. I'm actually kind of glad the plant isn't exactly what I want, because if it was then I would no longer have an excuse to hang around with James.

~o0o~

I couldn't help but think of James as I wandered back to the Hufflepuff Common Room after dinner. We'd pretty much spent the whole day in the library again. But, with the exception of the plant, we hadn't really found anything useful. Then I remembered the conversation I almost overheard between James and his cousin. Did James like me or was Weasley just teasing him?

I almost dropped my parchment as I suddenly realised. Weasley had been talking to me just before that conversation. He had definitely known I was there. I thought it was a bit strange that he came over to talk to me. He was making sure I was there! He probably even dropped the books because he knew I'd have to pick them up and he'd be able to sneak James past me without us seeing each other. He wanted me to overhear him and James! Although, I probably ruined whatever he was doing by leaving when I heard them. But why would he have wanted me to hear a conversation like that with James? I honestly have no idea.

I shook those thoughts out of my head as I entered the Hufflepuff common room. I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Things usually have a way of working out like that. But what if things don't work out? And not just with James and Weasley, but with everything. It didn't look like the aurors were any closer to catching the Hunters and James and I have been scouring the library for weeks and have made almost no progress. Then there's what Steve said; that even if Hufflepuff wins the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup, the other houses will probably still think it's a fluke.

"Hi, Dani!" I glanced up as Raven plopped down next to me on the couch. I hadn't even realised I had sat down until now. "Are you alright? You seem kinda down. Usually I would've left you alone, but I know Steve is with Jess right now so I thought you might, maybe, want to talk to someone. You looked a lot like you could use a friend and I happened to be here, so I thought I'd just come over and see if something was wrong." I couldn't help but give the girl a small smile as she rambled. She used to be quiet and shy, but lately everyone's discovered she can be rather talkative. That's putting in mildly of course. I have noticed she seems a lot happier now.

"Hey," I greeted as I tried to decide whether to answer her question honestly or not. I guess it would be nice to have a second opinion on what's happening with Hufflepuff. "Well earlier Steve said that even if we did win the House Cup, the other houses might think it was just a fluke or something. Is it even possible to change their opinions of us? What if I just got everyone's hopes up and nothing changes at all?"

"Things have already changed," she replied, "The other houses are taking us slightly more seriously now."

"I suppose," I admitted, "But it's likely things will just go back to normal next year."

"Then maybe," she started with a sly smile, "We need to go for something a little bigger than just winning the House Cup. Maybe you should give away the secret. You know, tell everyone that Hufflepuff has been losing on purpose."

"What?" I gasped, "But it's been kept a secret for hundreds of years! I'd be breaking pretty much every rule in the book."

"So what?" she countered with a grin, "We're already breaking one rule. Why not just throw cation to the wind? I think it's definitely time for things to change. Sometimes traditions need to be broken. And that isn't always a bad thing, you know. Although, you should probably run it by the other Hufflepuffs before you tell the entire school."

"Why me?" I asked rhetorically, "When did all of this start resting on my shoulders? I didn't do anything outstanding! I just said what was on everyone's minds. I'm an ordinary failure. I can't even cast a Lumos without creating a blast zone!" She suddenly let out an amused snort.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked and I shook my head, admittedly quite confused. "Dani, you've been the unofficial leader of Hufflepuff ever since you stood up in the common room at the start of the year and told everyone things didn't have to be the way they were. You inspired everyone that day. They didn't just feel like cheering for the hell of it!

"You showed us that we didn't just need to take things lying down. That we could be brave and smart and cunning too. That we had a choice. You've been in charge ever since, whether you knew it or not. You're our leader. And it's not because what you did was outstanding, it's because you were the only one outstanding enough to do it. Now it's time for you to do it again. You need to tell everyone that the secret shouldn't stay that way any longer. You need to continue what you started and then you need to finish it."

"You're right," I said quietly. And she really was.

"Of course I am," she grinned. Suddenly I remembered how good she was at herbology and I got a compulsive idea.

"Just one more thing before I do that though," I began, "Do you think you could do me a favour?"

"What?" she asked.

"I need to get my hands on a plant and I figured, since you were so good at Herbology, that you might know where to find it," I explained and handed her the piece of parchment which I had written the information about the plant on. It never hurts to have a backup plan. She quickly read it over.

"Oh sure," she said cheerfully, "Professor Longbottom has some of this growing in Greenhouse Two. I can go and get some for you later if you like."

"That would be amazing, thank you," I said gratefully.

"It's no problem," she said, "But now it's time for you to do something." I sighed but nodded. I guess it was time for me to give another speech.

I got up onto one of the tables and awkwardly cleared my throat. Almost everyone turned towards me in an instant. "Well err," I mumbled, not quite sure how to start this, "I'm sure you all remember what I said at the start of the year and I'm sure you all know that we've been trying to win this year to get some respect around here. But something was recently brought to my attention. Even if we do win the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup, what if the other houses just think it was a one off? What if things don't change? Maybe it would be better if we just told everyone the truth." Muttering broke out but no one looked absolutely horrified by the idea, which was definitely a good sign. I was suggesting ruining a huge tradition, after all.

"As Hufflepuffs we've always tried to make those around us happy," I continued, "But should that really be at the cost of our own happiness. We deserve respect just as much as the next house. It's about time things changed and I'm starting to think the only way to do that is to reveal the truth. Just think about it. Sure, us winning the House Cup would be a shock to the other houses but it will still be forgotten. By next year everything could be completely back to how it was before.

"The only way to really shake the school out of it's annoyingly resolute ways is to come clean and start over. We're already half way there, but if we don't take that final leap and go the whole way, then it will all be for nothing. It's time for a change and that change should be permanent! It's time to start a whole knew tradition. One that we can be proud of!" I stepped off the table and I was met with nodding, clapping, and noises of agreement. Raven was right. That needed to be said. And despite it shoving me back into the spotlight once more, I'm proud I was the one who managed to say it.

~o0o~


	11. Living or Dying

**Chapter 11: Living or Dying**

It's been a few days since I gave my second speech to the Hufflepuffs and word has already gotten around to all of the members of the yellow and black house. The full moon has been and gone, and my headache has finally faded. It's also Christmas Eve and there's a Hogsmeade weekend starting the next day because of Christmas. Anyway, I was currently walking down to breakfast. Steve had gone early to meet up with Jess and do relationship things so I was alone. I didn't really mind though, it gave me time to think without Steve constantly asking me about how I was going to tell the rest of the school Hufflepuff's secret. I still need to figure that out myself honestly.

I'd gotten a letter from Teddy a few days ago, telling me that he was safe. It was nice to know that the Hunters hadn't been able to get him on the full moon. Actually the Hunters had been unusually quite lately. It put me on edge. They must be planning something truly awful if they didn't even use the full moon to their advantage a few days ago.

I gasped as I was abruptly grabbed by the arm and pulled into an empty classroom. I quickly turned around to see none other than Fred Weasley. First James, then Louis, and now Weasley! I'm started to see a pattern here. "Seriously," I sighed, "What is with your family and pulling people into places? Is it so hard to walk up to me and say hello like a regular person? Is this normal behaviour for you lot or do you all just enjoy giving me a good scare?"

"Uhh…" he raised his eyebrows at me in surprise and said, "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have grabbed you like that."

"Sadly I'm starting to get used to it," I admitted with a small smile.

"Yeah James told me about that," he said with a nod, "So did Louis." Oh. So James did tell his family what was up with him. That's good. Although, I am a bit surprised that he told them about me as well. And why would Louis tell Weasley about our conversation?

"Was there something you needed?" I questioned. The Potter-Weasleys always seemed to forget that they pulled me into wherever for a purpose.

"Of course," he grinned. "I just wanted to let you know I approve."

"Huh?" I blurted and he laughed.

"Well you heard what he said," he told me, "It's only a matter of time."

"Oh," I sighed as I remembered the beginning of the conversation I overheard between him and James, "I thought you set that up. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I actually left as soon as I realised it was a private conversation."

"What?" he exclaimed, surprised, "You really are a massive Hufflepuff!"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked a little defensively.

"Nothing, nothing," he said smoothly, "It's just a little annoying is all. Now I'm going to have to explain it to you."

"Explain what?" I asked cautiously.

"Well it has come to my attention that my cousin, James Sirius Potter, fancies you very, very, much," he informed me. James likes me? "He told me so himself. You were supposed to hear it."

"Why?" I asked.

"James has never liked a girl as much as he likes you before," Weasley began, "Sure he chased after that redhead, Simons, but, as his best cousin, I can tell when his feelings are genuine. He talks about you a lot and I asked Louis about you. They both seem to think you're pretty great, so I'm willing to take their word for it. But I knew he needed my help, the guy is clueless."

"No he isn't," I argued automatically.

"I love him but he is," he replied simply, "I figured if you knew he liked you it would make things a bit easier for him. Now the question is: do you like him back?"

"Yeah," I admitted with a heavy blush.

"Brilliant," he grinned.

"But you can't tell him that!" I exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Why not?" he wined, "He likes you back and if he knows you like him then he might actually get around to asking you out. Then he can stop moping around like a love sick puppy. He stares at you all the time and honestly if I wasn't his cousin I'd think it was a little creepy."

"He really does that?" I giggled.

"Would I lie to you?" he asked cheekily. I shrugged but smiled. Actually, I had already been smiling. I have been smiling ever since Weasley told me James liked me and I hadn't even noticed until now. "Anyway, Hufflepuff," he said as he left, "I'm glad we had this talk."

"Me too," I said before following after him and finishing my journey to breakfast.

"What's got you so happy?" Steve asked with a grin as I sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Nothing," I said quickly, but I could feel the heat rushing to my face.

"You're blush says otherwise," Millie teased, which of course just made me go redder, "Spill!"

"It's nothing," I insisted with a small laugh. Luckily I was saved from further questioning when the mail arrived. It was a letter from my dad. Probably because it's going to be Christmas tomorrow.

I quickly ripped it open. It's been ages since I heard from my dad and I couldn't help but smile in anticipation. Then I read the letter. That smile didn't even make it through the first sentence.

 _Danielle,_

 _There was an attack on the house. I'm sorry I can't be there for you in person but I barely have time to write this letter as it is. I managed to call in a favour and get them to wait until tomorrow to report it. I didn't want you finding out what happened from the paper. Your mother was home alone. The entire house has been destroyed, blown up. She's dead. I cannot express in words how sorry I am to have to tell you this. It's probably pretty clear to you who did it so now more than ever it is important that you do not leave Hogwarts._

 _Stay safe,_

 _Dad._

"Is everything alright?" Jess asked. I don't know what my face was doing right now but it must have been bad because all my friends looked incredibly worried. I felt…scared. Shocked. Empty. I stood up rigidly and tucked the letter into my robe.

"Everything is fine," the words came out of my mouth but I didn't even recognise my own voice. It was so emotionless. So hard. So cold. "I'll be in the library." And then I left.

I soon realised someone was following me. Assuming it was Jess, Steve, or Millie, I turned around to get them to leave me alone but instead found Raven. "Hey Dani," she exclaimed.

"Hi," I replied in the stranger's voice. She seemed completely taken aback by something.

"I-If this is a b-bad time I can talk to you l-later," she stuttered.

"No, what is it?"

"Um well," she spoke quietly as she pulled a small plastic bag out of her backpack, "Mr Longbottom gave me some leaves from that plant you were talking about. You wanted some, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah. Thank you." I put my hand forward and she gave me the bag.

"Dani," she began cautiously, "Are you sure you're okay because y—"

"I'm fine."

"O-Okay then," she said reluctantly. "Bye."

"Bye." I then quickly continued walking. It was only then that I finally realised it. I was crying.

~o0o~

I didn't end up going to the library. I just wandered for a while before walking into some empty classroom and curling up into a ball. For some reason I tend to wander around the halls a lot when I'm upset. I don't know how long I'd been here in the classroom. I've just been crying. I can hardly remember the last time I cried. I hadn't felt the need to in so long. Sure things have been bad but I've always known that crying about something is pointless. That everything has a silver lining and time is better spent finding that lining. I was wrong. Not about the crying but about the sliver linings part. But despite how useless crying is in any situation, I still couldn't seem to stop. Don't people run out of tears eventually? I still haven't.

"Dani!" Jess exclaimed as she entered the room. I looked up, but couldn't even be bothered to wipe my eyes. Steve, Millie, James, and Louis were there too.

"Where the heck have you been?" Millie demanded. "You've been gone the entire day and you sure as hell weren't in the library."

"Sorry," I said tonelessly.

"Dani, what's the matter?" Steve asked. "You know you can tell us. Whatever it is?"

"I'm fine."

"You're fine?" Jess asked disbelievingly. "Is that the best excuse you can come up with? I've been friends with you for years, Dani, and not once have I ever seen you come close to crying."

"I'm fi—"

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Millie cut in. "It's not like you're actually fooling anyone!"

"I'm fine."

"No, Dani," James sighed as he kneeled down in front of me. "No, you are quite clearly the furthest thing from fine." I turned away from him and he sat down beside me.

"Just tell us what's bothering you," Louis said comfortingly.

"Nothing is bothering me. I'm f—"

"Damn it, Dani!" Millie yelled. "If you say you're fine one more time I am going to scream!"

"We all know you're not fine, Dani," Jess told me gently.

"She's not trying to convince us," Millie said slowly, as if realising something. "She's trying to convince herself. I may not have been friends with you guys long but I tend to get people and I get you, Dani. You bottle up your emotions deep inside yourself. When something is wrong you deal with it by trying to find someone else and making them distract you with their troubles. It's like you think you're responsible for everyone else's emotions, and you're always feeling guilty and apologising for no reason because of it. You are a hypocrite! You think everyone else's problems are your business but you won't even tell us your own! You give people advice when you can't even sort out your feelings!"

"I'm fine."

"You are not fine!" she yelled, "Something is wrong, Dani. I noticed it from the moment I met you. I don't know why you're so upset and I don't know what your problems are, but it's clear to me that something has been bothering you for a while now. But you still won't tell us what's wrong. You're a coward! You avoid your problems by hiding behind other people's! You can't even admit when you're upset! Do you thing refusing to talk about them will make them less real? Because it doesn't!" I want to be angry at her for yelling at me but I'm not. Because I know she's only doing it because she cares. I blinked slowly. I think I kind of needed that.

"You're right," I said in a voice that almost sounded like me again. "But you're also wrong, Millie. Believe me when I say that I am already very aware of how real my problems are. And that's why I know telling you will change absolutely nothing."

"Now you're wrong," Jess countered. "Talking to a friend will always make you feel better. At least, that's what you always told me when I was upset."

"Alright," I said slowly, "You want to hear my problems so badly you can hear them. Some of you already know parts of it anyway." They all moved to join me and James, sitting on the floor. "Well Steve already knows that at the start of this year I accidentally started an entire rebellion in Hufflepuff house. Now every Hufflepuff is looking at me to finish something I didn't even mean to start and I don't think I can."

"Jess and James already know that my mother is a werewolf and I am a half werewolf. Around every full moon my head feels like it's going to split in two and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it, despite what Jess may think. But only James knows that all those murders that have been happening are because a group of people are targeting werewolves and their children. People I know, people I was close to, have been killed. So many innocent lives snuffed out just for being what they are. On Halloween I was attacked during the Hogsmeade visit and was almost murdered, which would be why I ditched you, Millie. James got there only just in time to save my life.

"And finally, what none of you know is that this morning I got a letter from my dad telling me that there has been another attack. An attack on my mother. Our house was completely destroyed and my mum is dead. I had to read about my mum's murder in a letter! Though, I suppose that's still better than the poor twins having to read about their sister dying in the newspaper. And everyone will know about it by tomorrow morning. So are you happy now? Does knowing my problems make you all feel better?! Do you think you can help me with any of that?!"

None of them said a word. They just sat there. Absolutely shocked. "I didn't think so," I finished before storming out of the room and running off to the Hufflepuff Common Room. I couldn't face any of them right now. They probably think I'm a total freak. And I deserve it.

Millie was so right! I am a hypocrite. And even worse, I've been lying to myself about it. About everything. I didn't go to Hogsmeade on Halloween because Louis needed my help. We could have staged that argument anywhere. It didn't have to be done during a Hogsmeade trip, I just wanted to give myself an excuse to go so I wouldn't have to feel guilty. I went because I was secretly hoping to run into the Hunters. I wanted to see them because I was curious and stupid.

And what happened in the Library after I almost eavesdropped on Weasley and James' conversation. I didn't go back because I forgot my books. I was just using that as an excuse to myself so that I might 'accidentally' hear more. I constantly lie to myself to justify things that I shouldn't be doing so that I don't have to feel guilty. I am a terrible person.

I finally got to my dorm room and collapsed on my bed. So what do I do now. I am in a hole, wishing for a ladder when what I have is a shovel. All I can do is dig myself deeper. But that's fine. I'm not ready to climb out yet. First I need to end those stupid Hunters and I don't care if I have to die to do it. I am not going to let them kill anyone else. I am going to take them down.

~o0o~


	12. Fight or Flight

**Chapter 12: Fight or Flight**

I have never woken up this early in the morning in my life. A quick glance out the window confirmed that it was still dark out, but I knew that the sun would be rising soon. Today was Christmas but unfortunately that had nothing to do with why I'd gotten up so early. My mother is dead. Murdered by the Hunters. I could feel the dark cloud of depression settling overhead but I pushed it away. I didn't have time for that. I had a job to do. I was not going to let them hurt anyone else. It was time to take action. Someone had to do it, and the aurors weren't doing shit. People could go to Hogsmeade today. And I have every intention of making this Hogsmeade weekend count.

Which brings me to the reason I got up early in the first place. If I am going to get to Hogsmeade without running into my friends then I need to leave as soon as we're permitted to at eight. That gives me plenty of time for breakfast and last minute preparations.

Once I had changed into muggle jeans and a hoodie, I headed to the great hall for breakfast. It was relatively empty as it was still early. However, there were a few early risers dotted around the house tables. To my relief, I saw no sign of any of my friends. I took a seat as far from the few other Hufflepuffs seated as possible. I wasn't really in the mood for social interaction right now.

The breakfast I had was simple. Just toast. Anything more would have felt heavy in my nervous stomach. I glanced around to make sure no one was watching me before reaching into my pockets and taking out a small vile and a little paper bag. I carefully deposited the contents of the paper bag onto my plate. It was a few leaves from the plant that causes deafness. The ones Raven had given me. I knew that eating one leaf would be enough to make me go deaf for up to an hour. I just had to pop it in my mouth and swallow. Then that awful spell won't affect me…Hopefully.

The vial I had also removed from my pocket was the sample of the no fear potion Professor Nott had permitted me to take from class as reward for brewing it correctly. If I was going to do this I could sure use some courage. I didn't really know how much I was supposed to take. I knew the more I drank the longer it would last, but I wasn't sure how long specifically each amount would take to wear off. I hesitated for a moment before stealing myself. Then I quickly brought the vial to my lips and took a small sip, downing the funny tasting liquid. After that I grabbed one of the leaves and shoved it in my mouth, chewing and swallowing the bitter plant.

I'm ready. Time to go.

~o0o~

I walked the streets of Hogsmeade with a confident stride. I had never felt so prepared in my life. I felt as if I could take on a thousand men and climb any mountain. There was no more worrying or fear. Nothing could knock me down. Sure, I couldn't hear a thing right now, but it's not like that could cause too many problems. It just makes me even better because the spell cannot affect me.

After making a big show of walking around Hogsmeade for a while, I headed into the forest. Surely the Hunters have seen me by now. They just have to follow me. This plan is foolproof! And it didn't take long for me to be proven right. The hooded figure of a hunter was approaching me. Awesome! Time to take him down. I've totally got this.

I whipped out my wand and released a stream of curses without hesitation. He blocked them but that was all good, I've got way more. My second stream of attack was met with equal ease but I was still not deterred. Nor did I back down when my third barrage of spells was dealt with. It's just a slight setback. I panted slightly as I tried some other spells. This was good. I've been keeping him on defence. Soon I'll have him.

My wand suddenly flew out of my hand as he shot a disarming charm at me in between my attacks. Lucky shot. At least I think it was a disarming charm. I can't actually hear any spells right now. I dove for my wand as he made a familiar wand movement that I was sure belonged with the noisy spell. My hand closed around my wand as he finished casting but I could hear nothing as I shot several stunners at him. Caught off guard by me not being affected by the spell, he didn't have time to block them, and all three got him right in the chest. Ha! I got to my feet and walked over to where he lay. I knew I could do it! That was great. Let's go again! Of course he couldn't because he was unconscious. Way unconscious. Oh I am too good.

I took a final step forward and yanked his hood off. Joseph Hamilton?! He was a Hunter?! Joseph Hamilton is the brother of one of the first werewolves to be killed. It does explains why they knew the list. family of werewolves knew about it and had access to it. But why? Why would he help kill his own brother? Not to mention everyone else. Me included! A glance at his necklace showed me he was Hunter number two. The same one who had attacked me last time.

Anyway, it's time to go. And I don't mean back to Hogwarts. I took of the unconscious man's cloak and put it on myself, before taking his necklace and doing the same. Once that was done, I conjured some ropes, and tied him to a tree. Even if he wakes up, I doubt he'll be going anywhere for a while. Now I'm going strait into the Hunter's den. Those idiots aren't going to know what hit them.

Last night I had figured out that the Hunters were using portkeys to travel back to their base of operations. James had said that the Hunter that attacked me on Halloween had muttered something and disappeared. If it was apparition then he would have heard a pop so it must have been a voice activated portkey. Now I just have to say the right thing, and I should be transported straight to the Hunter's hideout. Now what did James say the guy had said. "Hunter hideout?" I tried, but nothing happened. "Hunter's den? Hunter house? Hunter base?" I smiled in satisfaction as I felt the familiar pull at my navel that meant I had gotten it right.

Before I knew it, I was standing directly in front of the Hunter's base of operations. It just looked like a regular house. However, it was in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't see anything else but grass and trees for miles. I took a step forward. These losers were going down.

It was at that point I felt a cold feeling rush over me. Suddenly the reality of what I was doing crashed down on me. The fearlessness potion had finally worn off. And I was still deaf. Well, shit. That's just my luck.

Only now that I had my sense back could I start to understand what a disadvantage I was at being deaf. My hearing has always been one of my strongest senses and I relied on it heavily. Without it I felt venerable. I can't hear people coming. I can't hear what spells people may or may not fling at me. I can't hear what people will be saying to me. I can't hear _anything._ Please forgive me for stating the obvious. I'm freaking the fuck out here.

I'm not fearless anymore. I don't think I'm invincible. The house in front of me is full of powerful people who want me dead. I am deaf. Was I afraid? Of course. Was I going to walk inside the house anyway? Yes I was. The reasons I came here have not grown any fainter in my mind. Yes, I was scared out of my mind. But I wasn't going to let that dim my determination. This must end today. One way or another. It was always going to happen sooner or later. I choose now.

So with that, I opened the door and walked into the house. Once I was finally inside, I realised house wasn't quite the right word for it. It was just one big room. It may have looked like any other house on the outside, but the interior was completely hollowed out. The only thing inside was one large round table with five chairs distributed evenly around it. There where four figures seated around the table, who all raised their heads when I entered. Luckily they all had their hoods up too so I couldn't see most of their faces. This would make it much easier to hide the fact I was an imposter. Me having my hood up should be perceived as completely normal.

One of them was saying something. I could tell by the movement of his chin. Shit! What is he saying?! When will the plant's effects wear off. Hoping to Merlin that it would work out, I simply nodded and took the only empty seat at the table. I tried to keep my head down so the hood would cover most of my face.

"…according to plan." I flinched slightly as my hearing suddenly returned. Thankfully, I don't think they noticed. "Now that the Finnigan werewolves are dealt with, we should finish off the Harding twins. It'll be just as simple as handling their sister was." They're talking about Candace, John, and Phillipa! I'm not letting them touch the twins!

"Yes, about that," a different Hunter spoke up, "Is it really necessary to kill the half werewolf children? Won't our job be done if we simply take care of the werewolves themselves?"

"We've been over this, idiot," the Hunter who was speaking before replied as he slammed his fist on the table, "We must eradicate all of them or they could still reproduce! If two half werewolves have children, there is a risk of them creating a full werewolf. All of those dark creatures must be destroyed. Only then will the world be safe from those monsters."

I've heard enough. I reached my hand into my pocket and pulled out the "panic alarm" necklace my father had given me. I clutched it tightly and muttered the activation word, 'periculum', as quietly as I could. I felt it heat up and looked down discreetly to see that it had turned orange. Orange?! The letter said it would turn red when it activated! What does orange mean? If they were going to make the thing a fucking mood ring, why the hell didn't it come with a bloody colour chart?!

Calm down! Think! What could orange mean? Maybe it didn't activate properly. Well obviously! The aurors would be here by now if it had. Why wouldn't it have activated? Think!…Umm…Wards! Of course! Why wouldn't a secret evil layer have strong wards up to keep it undetected. The house must be warded, which is stopping the necklace from properly activating.

I quickly glanced around the room again and saw some stairs leading downwards. Since warding runes must be carved into the house to make them strong and permanent, most wizarding families carve them down in the basement. And since I can't see any on this floor, they must be down there. If I can get into the basement and destroy the runes, the wards will come down and the necklace should work. Then this will all be over when the Aurors come.

Now how do I get down there? Maybe I could say I need to use the bathroom. Moron! That's a stupid idea. "I'm feeling a disturbance against the wards," the Hunter next to me suddenly spoke up. My necklace must be fighting to overcome them. Maybe I can use this.

"I'll go down to the basement and check on them," I spoke up in the manliest voice I could muster. I then got up and walked to the stairs as casually as I could. I doubt that was very convincing. I'm too afraid to see their reactions. No one said anything and after what seemed like forever, I reached the stairs.

The descent to the basement was short. It didn't take me long to spot the runes carved into the wall to the left of the entrance. They were incredibly intricate and probably very powerful. Luckily destroying runes is easy no matter how powerful they are. You just need to destroy what they're carved into, in this case the stone wall.

Another set of footsteps sounded on the cement floor, and I spun towards the exit to see a Hunter standing there with his wand in hand. Damn it! I knew I wasn't very convincing. I whipped out my wand and fired a stunner; my train of thought being that I could catch him by surprise. No such luck. All I really did was confirm whatever suspicions he might have had. Stupid! I'm really not cut out for this stuff. "Who are you?" he spoke. What the hell do I do? I can't overpower him. And I sure as hell can't out smart him.

I'm useless! Why can't I be smart like Jess? Or strong like Steve. All I'm good at is talking to people and setting things on fire! I can't even cast a Lumos properly!…Actually…That's perfect! Now I have a plan. "Don't you feel bad for what you're doing?" I asked him abruptly, making no effort to hide my voice. "Killing all those people. For nothing but being who they are. No one chooses to be a werewolf. And yet they are held accountable for it their entire lives. I'm only fifteen years old. Yet you want me dead. Do you really think that's what's right?" I saw his hand waver slightly in hesitation.

That small moment of hesitation was all I needed. I quickly pointed my wand at the runes and shouted with all my concentration, "Lumos Maxima!" Thinking light was going to burst from my wand, the Hunter simply covered his eyes. Boy is he in for a surprise.

It's hard to register what happened next. There's a loud noise that rings in my ears. There's a powerful force. There's bright white light. There's sharp pain. Then there's nothing.

~o0o~


	13. Justified or Unacceptable

**Chapter 13: Justified or Unacceptable**

My head is pounding right now. It's like I've got a bunch of little people tap dancing in there. What's going on?

My eyes flew open as I remembered what had happened. I sat up quickly. That was a mistake. Huh, when people get light headed they actually see stars. I thought that was just a cartoon thing, but I can actually see a bunch of little bright dots swimming in my vision. I managed to stay upright and my vision soon became functional again.

"Danielle. You're awake."

It was then I noticed that I was surrounded by people. My dad was the one who had spoken. Standing next to him was Teddy, followed by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. And on the very end, looking as shockingly alive as ever…"Mum?!" I chocked out.

"Yes," she replied, "Now that the Hunters have been arrested we can tell you the truth."

"The Hunters have been arrested?" I repeated. I could barley process anything right now. My mum's alive? What is this? Am I dreaming?

"We managed to take the four inside the house into custody pretty easily," explained Head Auror Weasley, "The small team of Aurors sent when your necklace was activated was more than enough. The fifth was found tied to a tree near Hogsmeade. I'm guessing that was your handiwork." I nodded dumbly.

"You were buried under a bit of rubble but we managed to dig you out okay. You do have a bit of a concussion though but the cuts all healed without any scarring," Mr Potter informed me. I can't believe I was meeting James' dad and uncle. I remained silent but looked at mum questioningly.

"A few days ago the Hunters did attack and destroy the house," my dad began what I hoped was a very justifiable explanation, "Your mother was home alone but she managed to get out via the floo network just before it came down. We decided that it would be better to pretend the attempt on her life was successful so they would leave us alone for the time being. There was no way of telling you without us being sure it would remain a secret but we didn't want you to hear about it from the papers, which is why I wrote you that letter saying mum was dead. I'm sorry. We couldn't tell you." Teddy scoffed at that. I said nothing. I didn't really know what to say.

"Can you tell us what exactly happened?" My mother asked me gently.

So I did. I told them about what happened in Hogsmeade on Halloween and on Christmas. Then I told them about the events at the Hunters hideout. No one said a word while I spoke and I was staring resolutely at my bedsheets so I couldn't see their reactions.

"You blew up an entire house with Lumos Maxima?!" Teddy burst out when I had finished. I nodded sheepishly. "It was a small house but still. That's bloody impressive. I don't even want to know what you could do with a Bombarda."

"Well we know where she gets that from," Mr Weasley commented lightly. Then my dad exploded.

"How could you do something so completely stupid?!" he half yelled, half scolded, "I told you specifically not to go to Hogsmeade or put yourself in danger! And yet you completely ignore me. What you did was completely unacceptable and very reckless. You are in so much trouble. I don't ever want to—"

"Just stop," I snapped suddenly.

"What?" he demanded. I have never felt so angry or betrayed in my entire life. Everything my father had said was finally catching up with me and I was pissed. I haven't been truly angry at someone since I was a child. But right now I was furious. I'd been extremely upset when the Hunters had been murdering people but I hadn't been angry. Bad people act like bad people. There is no point getting angry at soulless murderers. But to have my parents lie to me and then still think they have a right to scold me…This is just…Arggg!

"Just shut up!" I yelled, my parents and Teddy looked absolutely shocked at my outburst, "How dare you do this to me! How dare you inform me through a letter that my mum was dead and the house was destroyed. How dare you think it's okay to lie about something like that. How dare you put me through that kind of emotional trauma with barely a second thought. What you said was total bullshit! You could have easily dropped by Hogwarts to inform me of what was really going on. You just decided not to tell me because it was easier. Did you consider for a second how I would feel?

"You told me in the first letter you sent me this year that you hated it when your mother lied to you about what was really going on. And yet you think it's okay to do that very same thing to me. Parents do the stupidest things when they lose sight of how they felt when they weren't adults. What's more, you have the nerve to start laying into me about doing something reckless.

"Of fucking course I acted recklessly. That's what people do when they're grieving. They do stupid shit. But don't think for a second that I regret anything I did. I thought of a way to stop the Hunters and I followed through with it. No one else has even come close. Someone had to do something! What I did was completely justified. I don't care if I could have died. What difference would it make. If the Hunters weren't stopped they were going to kill me and everyone else anyway.

"When I walked into their base, they were discussing killing the twins. Who knows if the Aurors would have caught them before they managed that if I hadn't done something. I don't care what you think. I would do it all again if I had to! You can yell at me all you want but my opinion won't change!" I exhaled deeply into the silence. I have never done anything like that it my entire life.

"Dani," Teddy breathed in amazement, "When did you become such a badass?"

"When my dad told me my mum was dead," I replied promptly as I got out of the bed, "I don't much feel like talking to my parents right now and I feel fine so I'm going to go. Bye Teddy. It was nice meeting you Aurors Weasley and Potter. I'm sorry you had to witness that." Then I bolted out the door before anyone could utter a single word of protest. Now what? Well I'm really hungry. I wonder if it's meal time. I wonder what day it is.

I soon realised it was the middle of the night when I finally caught sight of a the stars through a window. I decided to just go to bed and deal with the backlash of everything in the morning. I feel like I could sleep for days.

~o0o~

I was definitely not looking forward to this. But I know I'll have to face everyone eventually. My friends, my parents…James. I don't imagine any of them are very happy with me right now. I probably wouldn't be. I really don't think I should have exploded at my parents like that. Sure, they lied to me, and they made me grieve for no reason but…But…Umm…They did it out of love? Oh who am I kidding? I still don't really want to forgive them until they admit they were in the wrong.

Sure, I acted recklessly, but it needed to be done and, truthfully, I regret nothing. Although I wasn't exactly in the right either. If both parties have done the wrong thing, but neither regrets their actions, what's supposed to happen? I can't apologise for what I did if I don't really mean it. I suppose I am sorry for putting myself in danger and making people worry. But I'm certainly not sorry for doing everything I could do to stop people being killed.

When entering the Great Hall that morning, I really wasn't expecting everyone to so blatantly stare at me. But stare at me they did. They can't possibly know about what I did, right? I quickly found out my assumption was wrong as I caught sight of this morning Newspaper. "Wow, this stuff gets around fast," I said absentmindedly.

My friends were quick to shove it in my face and demand answers. "What the hell is this?!" Millie asked.

"A Newspaper." I'm sorry, I really couldn't help myself. Stalling came naturally.

"You're fucking hilarious," she hissed sarcastically. Okay, she's really pissed.

"Sorry," I winced.

"I really don't think you need to be so mad, love," Louis cut in, "My uncles and aunts did stuff like this all the time when they were in school."

"Your uncles and aunts are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley," Jess pointed out, "This is completely different."

"How?" Steve asked.

"Well for one, Dani isn't Harry fucking Potter!" Millie said.

"Why do you guys keep bringing my dad into this?" James protested.

"Because he's Harry freaking Potter," Steve explained simply. Have they forgotten the purpose of this conversation. Maybe I can get away with this.

I casually picked up the Newspaper Millie had discarded to see what was actually written. I didn't even get past the headline: ' _Mass Murderers Thwarted by…a Hufflepuff?!_ '

"Are you flipping kidding me!" I yelled, drawing everyones attention to me. Not just my friends either. "A fifteen year old organises the capture of mass murderers but they're only surprised about the fact she's a Hufflepuff! Are wizards that used to children catching all the bad guys? Or is everyone seriously that house-ist? And yes, I did just make up a term for discriminating against people for their house. Hufflepuffs are not useless, we are not cowards, and we are not duffers!

"Just look at the house points. We're winning by over one hundred points and you've all seen that we're capable of winning Quidditch Matches. Do you want to know the real reason we've never won before? For hundreds of years, Hufflepuff house has thrown the house competition because all the other houses are a bunch of sore losers. It became a tradition to sacrifice our reputations to keep the peace. But no more!

"We are sick of the complete lack of respect. This year we decided to try during the house competition and look how easy it was for us to start wiping the floor with you! We're smarter than what we're given credit for. And I think I've more than proven we can be brave. So maybe you all should get your heads out of your butts and get a bloody clue." Every single non-Hufflepuff face in the great hall was set to shocked. Even the teachers. And now I shall continue the habit I have grown accustom to. That habit being leaving. I was out of the Great Hall in a matter of seconds. I didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast.

I let out a sigh of relief when I stepped outside into the empty courtyard. "That was something," Jess' voice spoke. I turned to see that my friends had followed me out.

"So you get angry now," Steve commented, "That's new."

"It was bound to happen eventually," I said.

"Was that crazy and dangerous escapade you took part in 'bound to happen eventually'?!" Millie said.

"Quite frankly yes," I said firmly, "I'm sorry that I put myself in danger but I was presented with an opportunity to stop some murderers. That isn't something I would ever pass up. It was my responsibility in a way. It fell in my lap. I wasn't going to let it slip away. Who knows what would have happened otherwise."

"Fuck!" she suddenly yelled, "It is so bloody hard to stay angry at you!"

"Um, sorry?" I said.

"Damn right your sorry," she said as she pulled me into a hug, "Don't do it again."

"I second that," Jess said as she joined in. Soon it was a group hug with me in the middle.

"I don't think you have to worry about that," I admitted when we had finally broken apart, "The circumstances were pretty unique."

"I can agree with you there," Steve said.

"But next time you're having problems," Jess began, "Promise you'll just tell us. And I don't mean dumping them on us at the last minute and then leaving on a suicide mission."

"It's hardly a suicide mission if I come back alive," I said and they all shot me fierce looks, "But yeah, I promise." I smiled at them all. The Hunters are gone, my friends don't hate me, my mum isn't dead, and the Hufflepuff secret is out. My house is still destroyed and I'm still a half werewolf, but things are definitely looking up.

"Hey," James broke the warm silence, "Do you guys mind if I talk to Dani alone for a while?"

"No," Jess replied hastily with a smile.

"She's all yours," Steve said.

"Good luck," Louise added. Before I could so much as blink, they had all hightailed it back into the castle. Well that was strange. Now we were alone. James rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"So what did you want to say?" I prompted. This kind of reminds me of our first few meetings, when James was using me as a real life advice column. I thought back to when I first met him. Back to when my life was completely unremarkable. Back to when James didn't even know my name. It would be pretty redundant to say things sure have changed.

"Yeah I um…" he stuttered, "You know I was never very good with words. So um, I'm going to do something and…please don't slap me."

"Slap you?" I repeated, "Why would I—" My thought processes ended when my sentence did. There was only one thing on my mind. James Potter is _kissing_ me. _James Potter_ is kissing _me_. I am being kissed by James Potter. I did what anybody would do in my situation. I kissed him back. I'm not going to describe it to you. Mainly because I couldn't string a coherent thought together at the time. But also because if you've ever been kissed by that special someone you know what it feels like, and if you haven't, the words I would try to use would never do the feeling justice.

Yeah, I'd say things are definitely looking up.

~o0o~


	14. Beginning or Ending

**Chapter 14: Beginning or Ending**

Looking back on this year, it was certainly different from other years I have been through at Hogwarts. But just as those years came to an end, so has this one. I'm not sure what was most remarkable about it. That I managed to help catch murderers, that I started dating James Potter, or that I started a Hufflepuff revolution. Perhaps it was the fact that I actually blew up at my parents. Figuratively! Blowing up the Hunters hide out was enough of the literal kind for me. I did make up with them pretty quickly though.

Then they joined my friends and I in a belated Christmas celebration. We were all a few days late but I had been preoccupied and my friends and family were too busy being anxious about me to properly celebrate. Gosh, I sure do suck for making them worry like that.

After that we were finally able to hold some proper funerals for everyone the Hunters killed. I often find myself thinking about Candace. I miss her. But I can only hope that she's happy no matter where she is. And whatever happens, I will do everything I can to look after the twins in her place. The Hunters themselves have been trialled and placed into Azkaban for life. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

As for me, I became quite well known for a while. The Ministry awarded me an Order of Merlin Third Class for my actions and I was offered a position as an auror for after I graduate. I don't think being an auror is really for me though. If I made a habit of what I did this year, I thing my parents and my friends would become quite furious with me. They'd have good reason to as well.

So here I am, in the Great Hall with the rest of the school, on the last day of the year. "In fourth place, with 362 points, Ravenclaw," Headmistress McGonagall announced, "In third place, with 396 points, Gryffindor. In second place, with 427 points, Slytherin. Finally in the first place, with 593 points, the House Cup goes to Hufflepuff." We all broke out into cheers and polite clapping in the case of some people. The first time Hufflepuff House has properly won the House Cup in such a long time. I met eyes with Raven across the table and we shared a smile.

We didn't quite manage to win the Quidditch Cup, but we came in close second after Gryffindor. I suppose you can't win them all. Either way, Hufflepuffs have been getting a lot more respect recently. A page has been turned and a new beginning has been written for hufflepuff house. We have come so far. And we'll be going even further in the future.

~o0o~

"Oi!"

"Sorry," Jess laughed at my reaction, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare me," I scoffed, I was far too used to this kind of thing by now, "But what reaction do you expect when you suddenly drag someone out of the hallway?"

"You never seem to mind when James pulls you away to snog," she countered.

"He-That-We don't—" I spluttered. I must be completely red in the face right now. And she's laughing at me again. "Oh, shut up."

"But seriously," she said, "I pulled you in here because I wanted to show you something."

"Well show away," I said, "I do have packing to do, you know." She simply grinned and pulled out a long piece of parchment.

I took it from her, eyeing her cautiously, and began to decipher her messy writing. "You…" I trailed off in astonishment, "Will it work?"

"I'm confident it will," she replied, "But we can't know until we test it." I couldn't believe what she was saying. This was…This could help so many people. When Jess had told me she was going to get rid of my full moon headaches I thought it was impossible. And yet here she is, about seven months later, handing me a recipe for a potion that could make almost every aspect of being a werewolf or a part werewolf less painful. Something that could not only cure full moon headaches, but make transforming almost painless. Jess truly is one of the most brilliant minds out there.

"You've really out done yourself," I breathed, "I knew you were a genius but your ability to do the impossible never fails to astound me."

"It did take me longer than any project I've worked on so far," she said thoughtfully, "But it really wasn't as impossible as you were making it out to be. It turns out that when you add—"

"Jess," I interrupted, "You could try to explain whatever you did to me for hours on end but I still wouldn't be able to comprehend a word of it. We can't all be outstanding."

"Yeah because you're certainly not outstanding," she agreed sarcastically, "It's completely ordinary for a fifteen year old girl to start revolutions and take down mass murderers."

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"

"Nope."

"So what are you going to do with this," I asked, gesturing to the parchment.

"I talked to someone in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and they said they've sent it off to be made, tested, and developed," she replied, "Then someone offered me a job as an unspeakable after I graduate."

"If that job were offered to anyone else like that, I'd be surprised, but seeing as it's you…Are you thinking about it?"

"Nah," she said, "I like inventing and developing things on my own terms. Besides, I already have my next challenge lined up."

"I'm afraid to ask," I told her.

"Well I just really miss my computer," she said, "So I figured I'd come up with a way to make technology work around magic."

"Well you've done the impossible before," I smiled, "It would be silly of me to doubt you."

"That it would," she nodded. There was a pause.

"Can I please go and pack now?" I half wined.  
"Sure," she laughed and we left the room, separating to head to our different common rooms.

Then I was grabbed. "Really?!" I exclaimed, "Again?!"

"I would have thought you'd be used to it by now," James commented.

"Doesn't mean you should do it," I explained.

"But I wanted to talk to you before the holidays start and I won't get to see you," he said.

"You know we'll see each other on the train ride back, right?" I asked incredulously.

"But we won't be alone then," he grinned. At this rate, I won't have enough time to pack my stuff properly before we're supposed to leave.

"I don't have time for a snog right now, James," I laughed.

"Hey! That's not what this is about!" He blushed.

"Oh."

"Just close your eyes," he said. What's up with this? I did as he said and waited…And waited…And waited.

"Is something going to happen any time soon?" I questioned.

"S-sorry I g-got distracted," he stuttered.

"Is everything alright?"

"Y-yeah," he said. I could practically hear the blush in his voice and couldn't help but smile. What is he up to? He sounds nervous.

I felt something cold settle around my neck and opened my eyes. It was a necklace with a small yellow rose charm dangling off it. I looked back up at James in astonishment. I was right. He's blushing. And now he's got me blushing. "What's this for?" I asked.

"Well I just wanted to give you something so you won't forget me over the holidays," he explained.

"It's beautiful," I told him with a smile and he let out a relieved sigh.

"And I also wanted to tell you that…that I love you," he said in a rush. My eyes widened slightly and my smile grew bigger.

"I-I love you too," I replied.

"Good," he grinned, "I would have had to take the necklace back otherwise."

"Oi!" I hit his arm but laughed.

"Well don't I get a thank you?"

"You're so demanding," I teased, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him softly, "But thank you. I really love it."

"So you did want a snog then," he said, cheekily.

"And, we're done here," I said pushing him off and making for the door.

"You're so cold to me," he pouted jokingly. I just laughed.

"See you on the train," and with that I left. If I forgo folding my clothes I think I can still get everything packed in time.

~o0o~

"Well done, James," Millie said as she admired the necklace he gave me, "At least you have good taste."

"What do you mean 'at least'?" he protested.

"I'm only joking," Millie grinned.

We're on the train ride home right now. I did manage to get everything packed incase you're wondering. "Oh, Dani, are you done with that book I lent you?" Jess asked…Shit. So maybe I didn't get everything packed.

"Oh um…"

"I'm just kidding," she laughed, "Steve found it in your common room earlier."

"That's not funny!" I insisted, "It's your fault I was in a hurry to pack. And don't you laugh too James, you're just as much to blame."

"Oh. James pulled you away for a snog again?" Steve asked innocently. James and I blushed.

"No! And don't act like you don't do the same thing with Jess," I said.

"Yeah but it's funny how embarrassed you two get about it," Louis explained.

"You guys are the worst," I informed them.

"But you love us," Millie said.

"Not as much as she loves me though," James added jokingly.

"That's debatable," I teased.

"Oh the pain," he cried dramatically, "Will my heart ever recover?" I raised an eyebrow and his smile broke free. Soon we were all laughing.

"Oh I just remembered!" Louis said suddenly, "James told you about next week, right?"

"Next week?" I repeated.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Louis asked James.

"Maybe…" he responded.

"Well the Potters and the Weasleys all wanted to meet you," Louis explained, "You are James' girlfriend after all. He was supposed to ask you to come to the burrow for dinner next Friday."

"Oh sure," I agreed but truthfully I was a little nervous. I'd already met James' dad and uncle, but I didn't exactly make a great first impression what with yelling at my parents and storming out of the room. They probably think I'm a brat.

"Don't worry, they'll love you," James said, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Right," I said doubtfully.

"It'll be fine," Louis told me, "They're not going to eat you or anything."

"They never ate me," Millie confirmed mock seriously.

"Yes, that makes me feel so much better," I sighed.

"Honestly, I think James should be more worried about meeting your dad, Dani," Steve put in, "He might decide to blow him up."

"Hey!" I disagreed, "My dad may have blown up some tables and a bridge, but he has never blown up a person and neither have I."

"What do you reckon is more impressive, Dani's dad blowing up a bridge or Dani blowing up a house?" Steve asked.

"The house definitely," Jess replied, "She did use a Lumos after all."

"Would you guys let that go already!"

I was going to miss this kind of light hearted teasing over the summer. But I'll see them all again soon. And I know I'll be seeing James and Louis. I fingered the necklace James had given me. What if his family doesn't like me? Or am I just being silly worrying like this? Well if I can face the Hunters I can face James' family. Even if they don't like me I'll win them over no matter what. James is definitely worth it. And he was right when he said it would be okay.

If I've learned anything this year it's that, no matter how bad things seem, everything always works out sooner or later.

~o0o~

 **THE END**

 **Guest Review Replies:**

 **FlowerGirl: I'm very happy that you liked my story. I thought about writing an epilogue but decided to leave things here instead. But who knows? An epilogue or a one-shot might just pop up one of these days. Thank you so much for reviewing!**

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